everybody has their secrets
by vampiregirl200
Summary: bella moves to forks and finds edward, but she is not human. they both try to keep their secrets from each other, and end up falling in love. what will happen next? i know it's a REALLY sucky summary but the story is good i think im not done, so yea.
1. Chapter 1

There was something very wrong about where I was. I had never been there in my life before. I has a feeling I was not in water, because I could feel the same sensation of what I guessed was air filling my lungs when I had poked my head out into the surface a couple of times. There were odd, thick brown columns around me that were scattered all over the place that gave off a strong, strange smell, and had green coats of something that seemed like algae. The tops of these bizarre columns had clumps of green strips of something that kind of reminded me of kelp, but was not. They fell gracefully and slowly as something that was like a current blew through the strange location. The floor was sort of sand-like but harder and clumpier. The substance was as brown as my eyes, and was covered with the odd green things falling from the brown columns. I started to look around, panicked about how I had ended up in this horrid, but oddly enough, intriguing place. Then I noticed my body. My arms were covered in something blue, stopping at my hands. I became even more frightened. _Where are my pectoral fins? My beautiful, green, graceful. flowing fins? What has happened to me? _I thought as I looked down at the rest of my body. My pectoral fins, which normally started at my knuckles, crawled up my forearm and stopped at my elbows, were gone, and so were my arms! I was trapped in this wierd skin that hugged and seemed to have holes in it. It was not wet for one thing, nor as the rest of the things around me. And then I would have sworn my heart stopped- dark blue pole-like things were in the place of here my gorgeous, long, extravagant green tail. I then collapsed onto the awkward floor. For some reason, no matter ho hard I tried, I could not get up- not that I knew _how _toget up_. Where am I?_ I thought as I felt my face. _Good. No harm done there- I hope. _

I swiftly moved my awkwardly shaped hands to feel my body that had been changed. I carefully caressed the uncomfortable, long ugly things that had replaced my gorgeous, scaly tail. I felt a familiar wave of sadness hit me. Something that felt warm and smelled like salt started rolling out of my eye. I brought my hand up to touch it. The small drop of wetness kept me from breaking down as more water poured down from my eyes. I covered my face with my hands to feel the wetness of my home that I missed. "I want to go home!" I blurted out, suddenly surprised at the sound that had just came out of my mouth. Now this was getting extremely creepy; I had never heard this language before, yet I understood exactly what I was to say. I parted my lips again to make another sound, tasting the saltwater than gushed from my eyes. "Hello? Where am I?" I cried, astonished at the beautiful sound that I as creating. It was more extraordinary than whales singing. "Where am I?" No one answered. I bowed my head into my odd, soft poles letting my long, soft hair cover my face. "Maybe whoever did this to me at least left my hair untouched and natural," I thought out loud, the gushing eye-water now slowing. I hastily felt raised my arms to the top of my head. "Oh, good. It feels a little on the not-wet side, though. Thank the starfish! They left my hair alone!" I exclaimed as I enjoyed the sound of my change in pitch. I looked around once more, stroking my long, dark brown, wavy hair with my wet hands, not wanting the wetness to go away. When I realized my hands had become dry from stroking my hair, I immediately stopped. My eyes scanned the weird looking and smelling setting. Above the gigantic columns, I saw glimpses of a light blue that was similar to the color of the sky of the surface. Another current like power that I had decided on calling a air-current blew my hair across my face, and drying my hands. I put my hands to my mouth, trying to taste the last of the salt before it disappeared completely. It turned out my mouth was wet as well, which was comforting. Though the liquid in my mouth was slightly slimy, I wasn't complaining- at least it was wet. I stuck my mutated hands in my mouth, trying to keep them wet as I stared into the collection of brown columns. I took my hands out of my mouth, which now ached from opening it so wide, and then the smell of human hit me as if I had slammed into a rock. I cocked my head, wondering were a human was, since I didn't see any or sense any around me. Then something caught my eye; a male, crouched in a collection of kelp-like things. He was staring at me, with yellow eyes, like my mother's, but more of a topaz color. His hair was a bronze color, and stuck out in all directions as if a sea urchin had nestled on top of his head. His pale skin stuck out against the green and brown background. He had perfect features: the sharp angle of his nose, his full, inviting pink lips, his deep, golden eyes, and his perfect square jaw. This was the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen in my entire existence. The mutated merman was also covered in the same skin as me, only in different colors. I waited for the usual vibration of the heartbeat that usually flowed out of Merpeople, but felt nothing. _Maybe he is the human I am smelling, and it is not me._ I attempted to communicate. "Excuse me, but where are we?" I asked, impressing myself once again and hoping to impress the human. But he just stared at me, eyes full of wonder and a bit of confusion. I stared back into his eyes, putting my hand back in my mouth. When he did not speak, I tried again. "do you have any idea here our location is? Do you not speak this language?" I questioned, wondering why he was not answering me. All of a sudden I heard someone call me from far away. It was a mermaid call, not the language that I had been talking. I got up, not knowing what I was doing, my eyes glued on the male the whole time, and then started to swim-or whatever I was doing- towards the call, green flashing past me. The air-current hit me, and it felt warm. My hair was being blown behind me as my strange poles moved back and forward unbelievably fast. I traveled towards the call and felt it getting louder, everything around me getting whiter. Then there was blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

"Bella, wake up!" Reefenna, my mother called as she peered at me through the small slit of the mini-cave of our cave. I snapped my eyes open, only to find my tail curled around my body like a dying shrimp. _Good, _I thought. _No scary looking pole things. _I quickly uncurled myself and sat straight up, banging my head against the shallow ceiling of the cave. I frowned up at the ceiling as if it wasn't supposed to be there, and then slivered out of the small opening, careful not to bump into anything else, though it wouldn't do any harm. Merpeople were the strongest animals in the sea. Nothing could break through our indestructible skin or tails; it was like rock. I looked up to see my mother grinning at me, her full, cherry lips winding up at the ends.

"Morning, Isabella! Thank the starfish you're alive! I'd thought an eel had eaten you or something!" She exclaimed as she stroked my hair, which now floated around my head like a halo.

"Yea, mom, sure. An eel can digest me, ok." I snorted. She rolled her yellow eyes, took my webbed hand and dragged me out of the cave, my shining crystal reflecting off of her silver tail.

"Come on, there are some humans traveling through here. We have to leave before they try to collect fish," Mother started, swimming upward.

"Wait I thought humans couldn't some this far down. What about Marina and Sapphira? We need to warn them," I insisted as I felt the pressure of the water lessen.

"I thought they couldn't. They probably made something that could let them swim deeper. I don't know. Marina and Sapphira are fine, they already moved. They were the ones who told me, actually," she answered. Marina ans Saphhire were family friends-no, my mom's friends. I had maybe one friend: a penguin in Alaska, who had already died.

"How do you know that they are collecting fish?" I inquired.

She scoffed. "Bella, I lived with a human for 10 years. I think I know the extents of their curiosity," she said as we went around a school of fish. I suddenly remembered about me dream, and the weird place that I was in. _Maybe I was supposed to be _human_, _I thought, replaying the dream in my head.

"Um, mom, what do _humans _look like?" I inquired, looking at her perfect face. Out of the 17 years that I was alive, she had never told me about her life on land. She scrunched her face, as if trying to remember, which she obviously did. Merpeople have excellent memories.

"You know how we have tails, right? Well they have these things called legs, instead. The legs are two long limbs of their, like our arms. Only they help them to do this thing called walking. Then there are these things attached to the ends of them, that is like a base to keep them I guess balanced. Their skin comes in different from as pale as we are now to dark, dark brown. Sometimes a dark purple. Hmm," she thought some more, probably trying to say it in a way that I could picture. "They don't have _any _fins, and their hands aren't webbed," she flexed her hand, causing the connecting fins to spread out. We were near the surface, and I could now feel the hearts and movements of the fish around us. "They wear these things called clothes, because they believe that not wearing clothes is a bad deed. The clothes are like a second skin and varies in thickness. Oh yea!" she exclaimed, scaring off a couple of clown fish. "They don't have gills." Things started to click in my mind as she kept on babbling on. The odd pole things, the human smell, the weird sensation going through my nose, which I never used, the weird skin on me. "They breathe air through their noses, which we don't use because we _have _gills." She touched her beautiful nose as if I didn't know what it was.

"Do they live in a place that is like not-wet? And there are weird brown column things that smell weird and have kelp things on top of the but are not actually kelp?" I asked, playing with my hair.

She looked at me like I was crazy. "Yea. Well they don't live ther that's called a forest. Well some of them do- sigh- how do you know this? Did you go on land? When? Do you know if anybody saw you transform? You didn't hurt or kill anybody did you?" she threw endless questions at me, surprise, happiness, and worry in her voice.

"No I had a dream that I was in a, well a 'forest' I guess, and I think I was supposed to be human," I explained. "I had blue 'clothes' on and I was witting in the middle of the 'forest'. I spoke this odd language that I never heard of before, but I could understand what I was saying. And my voice- it sounded beautiful. And then there was this male with golden eyes. Like your eyes- just darker. He was _gorgeous. _I don't think I've ever seen anything like him before, I stopped to see my mother grinning at me like a overly happy dolphin. "What?" I asked, having a feeling that this was leading to the male in my dream.

"My baby's growing up!" she squealed, twirling around gracefully.

"ok, mom. Now I can say that you are _crazy,_" I arched my eyebrow at my ecstatic mother.

"First you're dreaming of boys, then soon enough, you're going to come home with a husband!" she sang, cupping my face. "Just make sure you don't drag him into the sea and drown him, ok? Remember, human's can't breathe underwater," she continued, beaming as bright as her crystal. I grimaced at her, wondering exactly _what _she had eaten.

"mom, are you ok? Did you eat anything today? Weren't we supposed t be hunting, not talking about males?" I questioned, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, no, and yes," she said, swimming towards a clump of kelp.

"No mom, you need meat. Come," I coaxed her away from the plant, and eyed a angel fish that circled an anemone. I don't usually eat angel fish, but it was the closest so what the heck? I became very still, until the only vibrations coming off of me were my heartbeats and blood pumping, though the fish didn't seem to notice. I got my hands ready, feeling the skim toughen so that I could grab the fish easier. I lunched forward, the current making me attack faster.

" Bella. Are you telling me that you don't want a husband? Especially a human husband? They are less aggressive than mermen, and more emotional," the fish heard her, and swam away before I could grab her. I grimaced at my mother for scaring my food away, even though I could have gone after him.

I sighed and swam next to my mother. " Mom, I don't care who's more aggressive or emotional. Human or fish, I don't want a husband," I clarified, amking sure she got the picture. My mom's angelic smile vanished.

"but what about my grandchildren?" She persisted.

"Woa, you're grandchildren? Isn't that a little too far in the future, mom?" I stared at her, wide eyed as she nibbled on a piece of kelp.

"Nope," she said, her yellow eyes beaming. I sighed, and decided to drop to try and drop the subject. Mother obviously wasn't going to change her mind about it, so I just gave up.

"Aren't we supposed to be hunting?" She said, dropping the kelp. I rolled my eyes at my mother as she hid behind a coral, looking for prey. I did the same, smoothing my floating hair down so it wouldn't give me away. I ate two glass eye snappers and my mom caught one trumpet fish. After we finished eating, I decided to learn abut my mother's life on land and my human father. I decided it was time I tried and figured out what that dream meant. What that male meant.

"So, um mom, can you tell me about your 'human life'?" I asked causally as we swam aimlessly, getting closer to the surface. She sighed, as if it brought her pain.

"Well, what do you want to know?" she stroked the top of the water with her hand.

"I want to know everything. I guess you could start at the beginning," I shrugged my pale shoulders.

Mother looked at me with thoughtful eyes, and then began her story.


	3. Chapter 3

"It was about 22 years ago. I was swimming around with Marina, and we were playing around the shore. It wasn't around here though. It was around a place that humans call Washington state. They have these _huge_ pieces of land that they call continents," as she explained, she expanded her arms as far as they would go, to show me how _huge _she was talking about. "then they divide these continents into things call countries, then they divide the _countries _into states and the states into"- I cut her off.

"OK, mom I think I get how they divide things. Can you get to the story, please?"

She sighed, and then continued. "So we got near Washington. This place was great, Bella! There are a lot of rocks to play hide and go seek in, and it's really fun!" her eyes beamed and she clapped her hands like a little child. "Marina and I were playing on the rocks, weaving in and out, trying to catch eat other. I wasn't paying attention to my chain, and when I swam past a sharp rock, my chain broke," she held up her silver chain, showing me where the chain of her crystal broke.

"The current moved my necklace toward the shore, away from my grasp. I could have grabbed it, sure, if the two rocks hadn't been in my way. Marina wanted to go and get it, even though the humans were right there. I said no, and to wait. I couldn't let the crystal die. You know how our birth crystals die if they are not near their owner, right?" She asked me. I nodded, clutching my crystal that was dimmed from the shining sun above us. Our birth crystals hold our souls, and if we lose it or it is away from the owner for exactly 3 days, the crystal dies and that merperson's soul is lost. Not _dead_, but lost. When our birth crystals die, we also become mortal humans. You can say the crystals are the key to us being half fish.

"I waited, and waited, and waited. Watching the humans was very interesting. These humans were really, really big and dark. They were dancing around this hot thing they call fire. They were singing this language that I had never heard before. I was so fascinated by their legs, because I had never seen such a thing like this before. I loved their eyes, which were a dark, dark brown that almost looked black. Their eyes come in pretty colors. Some have eyes like yours, which are so beautiful! I wish I had them!" she stroked my cheek, her yellow eyes looking into my brown eyes.

"Others have green, blue and hazel eyes. Very pretty. Anyways, so I waited for the humans to break up their gathering, which was a long time! I actually don't know when they left, because I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was on the beach, and it had gotten darker. I felt this weird sensation go through my nose, which I had never used more than a minute or two. The sand was sticking to my skin, because on land dry things stick to wet things. I panicked, naturally, because I had never, ever been out of water. I screeched, calling for Marina. Trust me when I say, Merlanguage sounds _way _better underwater. Marina didn't answer. I panicked, trying to flop my way to my crystal, which was only a few feet away from me. Flopping worked, and I got to my almost dead crystal.

"I felt this tingling feeling all around my body. My pectoral fins were like being sucked into my arms, and so were the fins between my fingers!" Her eyes widened as she described her story.

"The cold tingling got colder, but it felt kind of good, though. My tail seemed to be splitting in half, and getting shorter. The silver color was fading into a pale color, like the top half of my body. The split tail started to gain more shape, my back fins sticking upward. I was on my back, trying to move, but I was too scared to. My gills were like sealing onto my skin, and disappeared. My uh, my private parts started to uh, grow hair."

She seemed to blush at this, though I didn't know why. I knew what she meant by private parts, yea, sure, that was an easy one. But I didn't see why she as embarrassed by it. _Maybe growing hair there is a bad experience, _I thought as she carried on her story.

"My hips were now more defined, and my was face slimmer. This process took about ten minutes. When it was done, it took me about ten more minutes to figure out that I was human. I was kind of happy, but then I wasn't because I didn't know how or _why _I had become human. I called for Marina, and my mother, knowing that they were probably _way _out in the ocean. I tried to get up and stand, which is this thing that humans do. I couldn't get up , so I just laid there, moaning. I guess a couple of humans heard me, because two of them came out of their house. Their names were Billy black, and Charlie Swan." She seemed to swoon at this Charlie's name.

"Billy is darker, and Charlie is lighter. Anywho, after trying to talk to me for like 20 minutes, Charlie carried my into Billy's house-" I cut her off.

"What is a house?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together.

"It's the place where they live. Like our cave, only prettier. You know, we should move to another cave. This one's getting boring and i need spunk, you know?"

"Ok, mom. We could move. Changes are good. Can you please your story? I questioned impatiently, twirling a piece of dead seaweed in my hands.

"Right, the story. So they brought me into their house, and gave me big clothes, since I was naked." I interrupted her again.

"What's naked?"

"It's when you're not wearing any clothes, like right now. We're not wearing any clothes," she answered proudly.

"Ah, I get it," I said as I looked down on my bare breasts and stomach.

She continued. "They put me on a bed, which is where humans sleep. It's really soft. I guess they thought I needed to sleep, but I didn't so I watched them do their weird human stuff. Billy gave me some human food, which is They used a communication thing they call a phone to call another human, and then more humans came over. It was a male named Henry Clearwater, and a female named Sue Clearwater. When they went to bed, I tried to escape to the beach. Charlie woke up though, and stopped me. It wasn't like I was going to make it very far anyways; I had to drag myself to the door with my arms, and I still didn't get there. It was a good thing that Charlie stopped me though. I never would have fell in love and…." Mother spaced out, the sun beams reflecting on her peaceful and serene face. I let her have her happy moment, remembering her human life. She snapped back, suddenly looking stressed and miserable.

"Mom, are you ok? You look like you just saw someone die." I looked into her hurt-filled eyes, struck with worry.

She smiled back weakly, trying to mask her real emotions. "yea, I'm fine. Let me finish the story," she insisted, her smile not meeting her eyes.

"Are you sure? It looks hard to tell," I said, cocking my head to the side.

"What's so hard to tell about it? No, you need to hear about your father." She declared.

"Whoa father? Wha-" she put her webbed finger to my lips, cutting me off.

"Were was I? Oh, yea. He took me back to the bed, and slept in the room for the rest of the night. The next day they took me to something they call a hospital, which is a place where they treat hurt and sick humans. They checked to see if I was hurt, then tried to ask me questions, which I didn't know what they were talking about. They came to the conclusion that I had amnesia or something, which is when a human forgets a whole lot of stuff. Like their name, where they live, etc. for the first like two years I lived with Billy and his new girlfriend, Sarah. They taught me human behaviors, English, and how to walk. Sarah even taught me how to cook, which is how humans prepare their food."

I interrupted her once more. "Why don't the humans just eat their food raw?" I inquired like a curious child.

"Because they get sick if they eat some of their food raw. Their digestive systems are more sensitive than ours," she explained. I nodded, showing that I understood what she was talking about. She continued.

"A year after I phased into a human, I started going out with Charlie. The term 'going out' is a tradition that humans, well Americans do. Americans are a kind of human that comes from a country called The United States of America. Yea, so anyways, we dated, and then I moved in with him, and married him. Humans don't marry how we do. It has to do with their religion." I nodded, quickly going through how our marriage steps- wells step went. To get married you have to switch crystals with your counter-part. When Merpeople fall in love, their soul belongs to their loved one, so we give our crystals. When we truly loved someone, our crystal turns a different color, like blue or green, depending on our personality. But we have actually _love _that merperson, or else the crystal dies and our soul is lost.

She continued, snapping me out of my train of thought. "We were married for 3 years. He lived in a really wet town, which was good. Even though getting wet would make me morph, it felt more comfortable. But one day when I was walking on the beach, I saw Marina's red hair poking out of the water. I swam to her, morphing as I swam. This phasing was way _faster _than turning mermaid to human. I swam for like to minutes, not even close to Marina. Then I felt the same tingling. My fins like speed-grew back onto my arms, and so did my webbed hands. I had to stop for a second, for my tail to form again. My legs pulled together, and started to bind. Scales started growing on my hips first, and then on my bonded legs that had gotten thicker. My feet turned back into my original silver fins, and then the process was complete. I swam to Marina much faster. Humans really can't swim that fast. Anyways, we had our own reunion, and she explained to me that she thought I was dead, which is stupid because mermaids don't _die. _I explained to her my life on land, and she wanted me to come home. I couldn't deny, but I didn't want to say bye to Charlie. I had to though, because I missed home _so _much. I went back to Charlie, and told him that I didn't love him anymore, which is a _enormous gigantic lie." _She grimaced, looking as if she had just died. After a couple of silent minutes, besides the sound of the sea, she started again.

"I was going to give Charlie my crystal, but I thought that would be a bad idea, since humans don't usually encounter. I returned to the ocean, happier and sadder than I had ever been. Then I found out I was _pregnant _with _you. _You were so beautiful, with your father's brown eyes and features. Now here I am, 22 years later with a beautiful daughter and a torn heart." She was talking about the love of her life and her love for the ocean, which had both torn her heart, because she could not have both. I stared at her sympathetically, and then hugged her fiercely. She hugged me back, her iron grip enclosed on my body. I couldn't bear to see my mother hurt, or even all emotional. I started formulating plans of how to make my mother happier in my head. Then I thought of one that I couldn't get rid of. I stopped hugging her, and then looked into her yellow eyes, with the most compassion I had ever tried to show in my entire existence.

"Um, mom? I know this sounds kind of corny and foolish, but why don't we go to live on land?"


	4. Chapter 4

**HI!!!! I WROTE THIS CHPATER KIND OF FAST, SO I'M SORRY IF IT'S POORLY WRITTEN. I HAD A BASKETRBALL GAME AND NOW I HAV 2 DO ALL OF MY HOMEWORK, BUT I WANTED TO WRITE A CHAPTER BEFORE I SRATED MY HW. HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT EVEN THOUGH IT KIND OF SUCKS**

**BYE!!!**

* * *

Her pained eyes wandered for a minute before they met mine. She smiled at me, even though the smile didn't meet her eyes, and then opened her mouth to speak. "Would you like that?" she said in a small voice, her eyes still gloomy.

I hesitated, trying hard for my voice not to break. "Yea, it would be fun. And besides, it would be like an adventure. Well, more for me than you, but still an adventure. We could go and live with, uh, Charlie, too. I won't mind," I said, trying to make my voice sound as soft as possible.

Her eyes started to lighten, and her smile became more genuine. "You actually, really want to become _human_? For me?" She asked me, her voice breaking.

"Of course, mom! If becoming human and living a human life makes you happy, I'll do it." _Well, part of it has to do with that male in my dream… but no one ever has to know, _I thought as my mother hugged me tightly, almost squeezing the life out of me. I smiled back, trying to wiggle myself out of her generous hug. She let go of me, and then grabbed my hand.

"Thank you so much, Bella! Being human is so exiting! You are going to go to school, have boyfriends, study, and make money, everything! Ah, this is so cool!" mother blurted out as she grabbed my hand and dragged me against the current. Come, on, we're going to Washington!" She shrieked, scaring away surrounding fish around us. "if we hurry, we can get there soon. Are you hungry, Bella?" she asked me as she stopped.

I answered her as I gained my strength against the tough current. "um, yea actually. Wow, how long have we been standing there?" I questioned, scratching my head.

My mom shrugged her delicate shoulders. "I don't know. It was probably a while, because it got darker. Come on, let's hunt."

_I must have been _really _oblivious, _I thought. Above us, the sun that brightened the ocean water had now been replaced by the moon, which was extremely dimmer. Our crystals now shone bright in the darkness. Below us, night predators started to emerge, ready for their next hunt. I followed my mom down to the coral, feeling the fast and cautious movements of fish swimming besides me. My mother drifted ahead of me, searching for her next meal. I slowed my pace, allowing some fish to become attracted to the light that surrounded me. I felt the fish through the water, and their scales brush up against my smooth skin. Most of them were just babies, so I just let them circle me. Suddenly I felt a big glob of fat drag against my back. I let the fish loop around me, slowly making its way to my crystal. When it got close enough to my neck, I seized her with my hands, which were formed into claws. My nails pierced into her skin, despite the scales. Before the fish had anymore time to react, I sunk my teeth into its back, paralyzing it. I spit out the hard scales, and ate the meat. When I was done, I let the scavengers pick on the carcass remains, and caught up to my animated mother.

"Let's start swimming! The sooner we get to land, the more time you have to learn to become 'human'!" she said, her pink yellow crystal lighting up her blissful face.

"ok, mom. Let's do this." I grinned, trying to copy her enthusiasm. My body ached, and yearned for my snuggly little hole in our cave. I wanted t sleep so badly, but I knew better than to delay my mother's happiness. I caught up to her, and we began swimming towards her former home.

"So, um, what are some things that I am going to have to know when I am human?" I inquired, playing with my golden chain.

She looked up at the surface, scrunching her eyebrows together. "Well, first, you are going to have to go to this thing called _school. _It's with humans your age, so it won't be so hard."

"Why do I _have _to go?" I asked.

"you didn't let me finish!" she scowled. "If we are going to live with Charlie, you are going to have to act like a normal teenager. So we send you to school. School is a place where you learn stuff, like math and literature and science and other stuff. It's a little different than the things we learn because, well they're humans. You are seventeen, so you only need to go for one or two more years I think," she said, her crystal making her short hair seem yellow instead of russet brown. She continued to talk about the basic human needs and things I would soon need to know. Within that trip, I learned different human names, some human conversation starters, the government of America, names of famous humans, and some human manners. When we got to Washington, the part that my mom said was LaPush, it was still dark, but the darkness had turned into a dark, murky indigo. The water became shallower as my mother and I approached the shore. My heart started racing, and my tail became limb as we broke the surface of the water.

I felt a faintly familiar sensation go through my nose and fill the inside of my body, making me shiver. I had to let


	5. Chapter 5

I felt a faintly familiar sensation go through my nose and fill the inside of my body, making me shiver. The odd sensation melted into my chest into a warm buzz as I exhaled the air. I swam towards my mother, the water slapping against my face and torso violently.

"Come, on ! We're almost there!" she said, her melodic voice ringing out. She stuck her hand out to me, seeing that I was having trouble overcoming the waves. I grabbed it, and she dragged me towards the shore. I looked out into the sea, saying goodbye to my soon-to-be-former home. I closed my eyes, remembering the image of my wonderful ocean, the air blowing my hair into my face. I sensed my mother's eagerness as her grip tightened on my hand. When I breathed in again, I smelt a faint, alien smell that I had remembered from somewhere. My eyes snapped open, and for the first time, they settled on the land. There was a long, thick strip of sand that seemed lighter than the usual sand in the ocean. Well, obviously. Sand on land is different than sand in the sea, I presumed as I observed the scenery. There were rocks of all sizes, scattered all around the sand.

"This is the beach I'm guessing?" I asked my hyper mother.

"Yea. It's pretty isn't it?" she breathed.

I nodded my head, taking in the rest of my surroundings. Behind the strip of sand, there were the same brown columns from me dream, only they looked more cone shaped than in my dream. I cocked my head at the odd objects. It had a stronger smell than the ones in my dream, too. That's really weird, I thought. "hat are those?" I asked, pointing to the odd brown and green things.

My mother followed my finger, and then laughed. I grimaced at her, not finding what was funny. "Those are called trees. They are a kind of plant. These trees right here are called pine trees, because they make seeds called pines. You smell that strong, weird, smell? That's the pine trees," my mother said proudly.

I inhaled deeply, taking in the tingling, interesting smell.

"Ah! We're almost there!" my mom squealed. As she said this, I felt the faint rub of the sand on my tail. I gulped hard, ready to end the fish chapter of my life and begin the human part. The water became so shallow that when I looked back, I could see a long sliver of my dark emerald green tail poking out of the water. My heart jumped a beat as my mother flopped out of the water, letting go of my hand. I followed her lead, hurling myself out of the water.

"Ouch!" I shrieked as my tail landed on a sharp rock.

My mom tried to quiet me. "Shh! You'll attract humans! The humans can't see us like this! Do you know how bad that would be?" she whispered fiercely, her face shruck with fear.

"Sorry, mom." I replied, my face turning crimson red.

"It's ok, baby. Just be a little quieter," she said, the fear in her face fading.

"So how long does it take to phase into a human?" I asked curiously, tilting my head a little.

She raised one eyebrow, and looked up into the sky which was becoming lighter. "About, err, five minutes." She said as she pushed her short hair out of her face.

"Wait, I thought you said it took ten minutes the first time you changed?" I inquired, confused now.

"Oh, right! Good memory, Bells! When you first phase, it takes ten minutes. Because your body never phased, it needs to get used to the transition," she responded. "I should be phasing in about like two minutes. Isn't it exciting?" she squealed, clapping her hands together.

"Yay, it's really exciting. What do I do while I wait to phase?" I asked, playing with a strand of hair that was becoming dry.

My mom shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I used to just sit there until I phased. You could make a sand castle!" she suggested, shaping a glob of sand with her wet hand. I sighed as I flicked a couple of sand grains off of my tail, which glittered from my white crystal light. I played with my crystal, tasting the salt from the water as I put it in my mouth. Land looked pretty interesting so far. Way more interesting than I thought it would. There were sounds coming from the forest. Huh, that's weird, I thought. The odd sounds sounded like high-pitched dolphin calls, only I couldn't understand what they were saying. After listening really hard, I finally figured out that it was some kind of animal, because I felt movements in the same direction that the sound was coming from. Even though I couldn't feel my senses as well as I could in water, I could still feel my senses, if that makes sense.

"What are those sounds?" I asked, my curiosity making me impatient.

My mother looked up from her project. She seemed to concentrate real hard on what I was asking. "Uh, that high pitched sound are birds," she said. Then she sat up really straight. "Oh, my god, I'm phasing!" she said, her eyes lighting up. At first I didn't see any change. And then her silver, long pectoral fins seemed to shake and shrivel. I cocked my head at the weird picture. Her pectoral fins looked like they were shrinking into her now shaking arms. I stared in horror as my mother's webbed hands changed form. Her fins pulled her shaking fingers together, and then disappeared. I couldn't see what happened to her finger fins because my eyes shifted to her tail. Her pale skin looked like it turned whiter as her tail literally split in two. Her split tail started to thin out more, and take more form. Her back fins thickened and slimmed, pointing upward. Her skin appeared to creep over the silver scales on her tail. Her body started to shake violently and mom laid back in the sand carelessly. I got really scared for my mother.

"Mom? Are you ok?" she smiled at me, and weakly nodded, not being able to speak. I would have helped her, but I was afraid of what would happen if I touched her. Her divided tail was now the color of her torso, and looked like it had bones. A little lower below her belly button, a bush of hair began to grow swiftly. My eyes widened in horror as she trembled sadistically before the shaking stopped completely, and she laid there, in the sand. I was struck with fear and could not move myself to go see if my mother was alright. All of a sudden, her eyelids opened, and I saw her golden eyes look up at me. She got up slowly, her arms trembling a little.

"See? That wasn't so hard," she said painlessly. She struggled to pull herself up, and got up on her legs.

"Those are legs? I like tails better," I said stubbornly, looking at her odd-looking limbs.

She grimaced at me. "You can do more stuff with legs. Besides, humans don't walk with tails, they walk with legs," she said, losing her balance a couple of times. She stuck her arms out, to balance herself better.

"were you ok? You were shaking really bad," I said, concern filling my voice. She nodded carelessly. "Yea, that's just part of the phasing process," she said, caressing her leg.

"Oh, ok," I said, not convinced. Then I felt a light shiver go through my body. I shrugged it off, thinking it was the cold of the surface air. Then the shiver turned into a strong cold tingle.

My mom looked down at me, and smiled. "You're phasing! Just stay still, kay?" she ordered me as I became numb. I fell into the sand, and tried to get up, but I didn't have any control over my muscles. The cold prickling came back, but this time felt more like a massage than a shiver. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my transformation. My arms became colder than the other parts of my body. My fins are disappearing, I groaned in my head as I imagined my green fins shrinking into me. My crystal, which rested on my chest, seemed to be burning a hole through my cold body. Then my tail got a cold tingle. I heard my tail split into two, forming my legs. I groaned at the thought of my beautiful green tail disappearing. I waited for the tingling and shaking to stop, even though it felt good. I felt my fingers become free from their connecting fins, and I moved them, amazed that I could move them that far. The shaking slowed down, and the shivering became warmer. I slowly opened my eyes, and raised my head. I saw two pale things that I guess replaced my back fins. I bent my arms, and sat up. My mom rushed over to me, and held her altered arms to me. I grabbed her hands, and attempted to pick myself up, like she had done. I felt the same, only I had no muscle power in my lower body.

"You probably won't be able to walk by yourself for a couple of days. You have to keep on practicing really hard, or it could take a week," she said, struggling herself to pick me up.

"Oh, that's nice," I said sarcastically as mom fell into the sand.

"Well, at least it's not human babies. It takes them like 2 years to walk, and even then they don't walk straight and exact."

I shrugged my shoulders, not being able to argue with this. We both sat there for a minute, lost in our own thoughts. I examined my new body; the bizarre bush of hair below my bellybutton, my thin, stick-like legs, my bare arms, my brittle, dry hair, and my now blood flushed skin. I never got to se what I actually looked like, but right now I was wishing what I looked like. The only reason I knew I had brown eyes was because merpeople had told me that my eyes were an unusual dark brown. My mother, obviously, was the one to break the silence.

"Well, we need to get some clothes. I don't know exactly how we're going to get clothes, because we don't have any money, but I'll figure something out. But right now, we need to get out of here, because humans are going to come out soon. We need to move before they see us," she grunted, trying to get up. When she got up, she pulled me up by my arms, and supported me while we walked. The sand felt weird under my new feet.

"I think I can walk by myself," I said, shrugging off my mother's supporting arms. I didn't succeed, though and my legs buckled and I collapsed.

My mother smirked, and bent down to help me back up. "Um, Bells, I think you do need some help walking. Here, let me help you," she said, not giving me much of a choice. I gave up trying to be human by myself, and let my weight lean on her warm body.

The sun began to rise over the water. I looked back at my home, and blew a kiss at it. I grudgingly turned my head forward, and leaned it on my mom's shoulder. "So, where are we going?" I asked.

"Um, I don't know. I have to figure out where to get clothes, though. We're probably going to have to sell our chains, to get money," when she said this, I protectively clutched my crystal. She saw my action, and shook her head. "no, not your crystal, you silly girl. Your chain," she clarified.

"Ah, ok. Why our chains, though?" I inquired, tilting my head to the side.

"Because humans find these kinds of metals valuable. I didn't mention this before, but some humans are extremely materialistic. They kill other humans to get their hands on this kind of metal, and this kind of rock," she held up her chain, which was dotted with small diamonds. Sapphira had put diamonds in it for my mom's birthday, to make it look prettier.

"Ok. That's-sort of weird but ok," I said, trying to see the good part in killing other humans for metal and rocks.

As we entered the forest, I felt small things jab the bottoms of my feet. The things sticking out of the trees poked me viciously. "Ouch! What in the name of starfish are these things?" I cried. Barely nothing could make me hurt as much as these odd brown things did.

"Those are part of the trees. They're called branches. The leaves, which are the green kelp-like thingies grow out of the branches,"

"Oh," I said. I didn't really care what grew out of them, just that they were annoying and I already didn't like them. I became really cold, and began to shiver. My mom tried to make me warmer.

"Oh, baby, it's ok. We will get somewhere warm soon," my mom coaxed me as my shivering body started to shudder uncontrollably. As we went on into the green forest, my vision became blurry, but I didn't say anything.

"How come it's so cold?" I asked, shuddering at the word, as if it made me colder.

"It's probably because your body isn't used to the sudden temperature change. We'll be warm soon though, Bella." my mom assured me. I nodded, slowly, unable to really control my head. Even though I wasn't really walking by myself, my legs began to move slower as we progressed.

"How come it's getting colder?" I asked impatiently. I was now shivering violently, unable to control my voice.

"It's probably winter," my mom said, wrapping her warm arms around my frozen body. "Bella? Isabella? Are you alright?" my mother asked me.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine. Just a little light headed. Humans probably get it all the time," I insisted, my sight and hearing getting blurrier.

"Ah, man I knew we should have went to Billy instead of wandering into the forest. You probably got hypothermia from your wet body and your fragile state……." My mom's voice trailed off as I collapsed into the cold, brown ground. I sensed my heartbeat getting slower as I saw a blur of colors around me. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I closed my weary eyes as I felt my body shut down.

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hi everybody!!! i'm going to try to finish chapter 6 before christamas so yea. sr i havnt updated in soo long ive had a tight schedule. PLEASE REVIEW AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS PPL!!!


	6. Chapter 6

hii people!! i wrote this chapter late at night, so sry if it's not that great. don't worry, edwards coming soon!!!

peace out ppl

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_Beep. Beep .beep .Beep. _

I groaned at this annoying sound. Everything was still black, but I left an excess amount of electricity around me, and smelled even weirder than a forest. _Where am I? Oh, yea, land, _I thought as I tried to figure out what happened. My thoughts were blurry and hard to form in my head. I was wrapped up in something soft and very warm.

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. _The beeping got louder. I tried to move my hands so I could my ears from this annoying sound, but small little things seemed to be holding them down. I frowned internally, trying hard not to lose conciseness again.

"Bella? Bella? Bella, my darling, please wake up!" a soft, small voice pleaded. I was still in darkness, and my head was throbbing. I forced my heavy eyelids open only halfwfay, so that I could make out the figure of what I guessed to be a human. I continued to observe my surroundings, ignoring it. I was in what I presumed was a room. _Humans live very messy, _I thought as my eyes crawled around the room. In my peripheral vision I could see a long, skinny pole with a bag of clear liquid hanging down from the top. On my left, I saw a odd looking rock with straight faces. On top of this rock, a long, beige thing lay on it and was connected to a curled wire. This wire was connected to the wall behind me.

"Bella! Bella! Please, baby, wake up!" I finally recognized my mother's voice and my eyes followed the origin of the sound. My mother was sitting down on what I guessed was my bed, and her eyes were filled with worry. I sat up slowly, taking in the light in the room. Mother was wearing -ugh- clothes. From her collarbone down to the end of her torso, she was wearing a thin, light pink piece of clothing. I couldn't see what the rest of her new body was covered in, though, because she was sitting.

"How are you feeling, sweetie? Are you feeling better?", she asked, her voice extremely low and cautious.

"I'm doing well, I think," I said as a wave of exhaustion swept across me.

"Don't speak so loud. The humans don't know what you're saying, and they'll think something's wrong with you," my mom whispered.

"Why?" I asked, wondering why what they thought about me was so important. My mother usually didn't care what anything or anybody thought of her.

"Because humans don't communicate like we do. Their languages are different than ours. Our language to them sounds like animals. They'll probably think we're crazy if we just started having a conversation in Merlanguage," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, ok I get it, I think," I said still a little confused, but decided to leave the topic alone. "So what happened to me? I remember we were walking in the forest and then everything got blurry………" I said, trying to remember what else happened.

"You got hypothermia. Your body couldn't handle the sudden change in temperature, and since you were really wet, you got even colder. Your body quit trying to make heat, and you fainted. You couldn't believe how fast I had to run to Billy's house _and _holding you at the same time. We need to work out more, you're heavy. What kind of fish have you been eating?" my mom scolded me.

I rolled my eyes at her accusations. "Oh thanks, mom. So what are we going to do now?" I asked curiously.

My mother sighed, and then laid down next to me. Her dry hair was spread out like little wings attached to her head. "We're going to live with Charlie. He's being really nice, and letting me stay until I can get a place of my own." She blushed when she said Charlie's name.

"um, ok," I said, letting my weakened brain try to process this information. "Well, when exactly are we going to live with Charlie?" I asked. Mother opened her mouth to speak, but a noise from the far side of the room made us both look up. Two humans entered the room from a perfectly rectangular hole. They were both male, and wearing white loose clothes. I wrinkled my nose at this. _These _clothes _are really getting on my nerves, _I thought bitterly. One human was unbelievably handsome, with dark blonde hair. His face features were angelic, with a perfect nose and full lips. His eyes were a dark gold, which made him look like a merman. He was almost as pale as me, and his ultra-white teeth made him look unreal. _Wow,_ I thought, stunned at his beauty. _I didn't know humans were _that_ pretty, _I said in my head as they made their way towards me. The handsome one seemed as if he was gliding to me. He was wearing a long white piece of clothing, and something around his neck. _Humans have crystals too? Mommy didn't tell my that! Their crystals are weird….. _I thought as I stared at the rectangular, thin cyrtals for a second. It was very colorful, and had a tiny reflection of the blonde human on it. _Woa. That is so cool, _I thought, momentarily dazed by his crystal. He reminded me of someone, though I couldn't put my fin on whom. I settled my eyes on the other male behind him. _Eh, maybe humans aren't _that _good-looking, _I said, contradicting my last conclusion. This human was the darkest in the room, with a sort of pink complexion. He looked as if there was air underneath his skin, because he looked unnaturally bloated and big. His hair was a dark brown, and appeared slimy. His nose was extremely pointy and slim, and looked as if it was extra pink at the tip of it. His lips were but a slim, pink, short line on his big face. There were bubble-like things on his face, which made his face look like a coral reef. His eyes, though they were extremely small and round, were an astonishing greenish-blue. He was wearing the same thing as the first human, and his crystal looked identical to the other human's. I had to stop myself from snorting at this human's funny appearance. As they approached me, I felt only one heart beating. _Huh, that's weird. maybe I can't really feel anything on land, _I thought to myself, trying to figure this out. It seemed to be coming from the big human, who was farther away from me. _That's really weird,_ I said to myself as my mother raised herself from my bed and walked towards the two males.

"Hello, Mrs. Swan. I see your daughter is doing better," the blonde human said, flashing a deadly beautiful smile at my mother. I cocked my head to the right, confused as to why I could understand him. It was the same language that I had spoken in my dream a couple of days ago. Sort of freaked out, I listened to my mother and the human converse.

"Yes, she is doing much better," mother responded, blushing at the male's smile.

"well, she should be released from the hospital in a couple of days. We want to be cautious, and make sure that she regains her strength and her immune system heals correctly," he said. His voice sounded like a melody, and I wanted him to talk more.

"Ok. Do you have an estimate of when that will be?" my mother inquired, her back facing me.

"Maybe about two or three days. But I shouldn't worry about her, though. She seemed to respond well to the tests we gave her, as I told you before," he said, his face now more serious.

"That sounds good. Thank you so much Dr. Cullen. You have done so much for us. I don't know how to thank you." My mother said.

_Dr, Cullen. Huh. That's an interesting name. And why is he calling mommy Mrs. Swan? That's not her name. It's Reefenna, _I thought, now confused.

"No problem, Mrs. Swan. You don't have to thank me. It's my job to make people healthier and happier," Dr. Cullen replied, the angelic smile returning on his face. He then turned his gaze on me, and continued to walk towards me. Mother turned in my direction as well, and so did the other human. She wore a worried expression on her face, for some reason. Dr. Cullen opened his mouth to speak.

"Hello, Isabella. My name is Dr, Cullen. Do you remember anything about what happened?" he asked in his musical voice. I scrunched my eyebrows, replaying the foggy events in my head. I figured that since humans would think our language would be weird, it wouldn't be such a good idea to say we came from the sea. So I decided not say that.

"Um, yes, I do a little," I surprised myself with what I had just said. My voice was more beautiful than in my dream. I continued, my eyes glued on Dr. Cullen's. "I remember it is very cold. I feel very weak, and then I fell," I said, proud of what I had just said. The human behind him was doing something on a larger thin crystal. I focused my eyes back on Dr. Cullen. His brows were scrunched together perfectly, thinking. I snuck at my mother, whose mouth seemed to hang open. She looked as if she had just seen a soul or something, because she looked shocked. I raised my eyebrow at her, and then looked back at Dr. Cullen.

"This is all you remember? You do not remember why you were in the middle of the forest naked?" he asked.

For some reason, I blushed at the word _naked_. "No, I do not. Should I remember what happen?" I replied, even though I did remember why we were _naked _in the middle of a forest. _Because we just came from the ocean. Because I am not human so I wouldn't know any better, _I answered in my head.

Dr. Cullen nodded his head slowly, and then continued to question me. "Do you remember your full name and were you live?" he asked me, his face full of compassion. I started to panic, and looked at my mother for help. She was whispering something very low, but I could not catch her sound waves. I looked back at Dr. Cullen helplessly. "I-I do not know where I am from. I do know my full name. It is Isabella Marie,  
I sad, hoping it was the answer he was looking for.

He inhaled deeply, and then smiled at me. I blushed at this. "Ok, Isabella. Do you remember who this is?" He gestured toward my mother, who looked frantic.

I nodded my head, as if this were a stupid question, which is was. "That is my mother," I replied.

"Do you remember her name?" he inquired.

"Yes, I do. Her name is Reefenna," I declared, proud of myself for peaking in another language so perfectly. My mother seemed to flinch at her name, and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Dr. Cullen, on the other hand, seemed to be amused by my answer. I blushed, wondering if I had said something wrong. "Do you know how old you are?"

"Yes, I do. I am seventeen years old. I am going to turn eighteen this human year," I said.

"Ah, ok. Thank you, Isabella. Well, you should get something to eat, to build up your strength. I will call in a nurse to bring you a dinner." I nodded, picturing a big, fat, juice fat fish. _Bass, maybe. Mmm…_

"Mrs. Swan, may I talk to you outside for a second?" Dr. Cullen asked politely.

"Yea, sure." My mom agreed. She then turned back to me, her yellow eyes full of excitement. "I'm just going to be a second, sweetie. Just sit tight, ok?" she searched for my mutated hand underneath my thin, big clothes and squeezed it.

"Do not leave me, mother," I said, feeling something wet collect in my eyes. She let go of my hand and followed the humans out slowly. I watched them as they walked into the rectangular hole. I sighed, and started to play with a long strand of my hair, waiting for my mother to return. I closed my eyes, and my mind started to wonder. I was about to fall asleep when my mother's voice startled me.

"Bella, honey? Are you asleep?"

"No, I just closed my eyes. Is everything ok?" I asked, opening my eyes slowly.

"yea, everything is fine," mom replied. "How did you learn English?" my mother hissed excitedly in the odd language.

"So that's what it's called? English? It's a very pretty language," I said back in my native tongue. "I don't know how I know it. When Dr. Cullen started speaking, I understood what he was talking about almost perfectly. I honestly have no idea how I know it though," I said, getting confused myself.

My mother cocked her head to the right, trying to figure it out. Then her face brightened. "I think I know!" she said in English like a little child. Before speaking, she composed herself a bit more. "I was pregnant with you when I was on land, so you must have picked up the language while you where still in the womb. Do you know how babies, when they come out of the womb they can already speak?" I nodded. " well, it's because we are _way _smarter than humans so we learn the language while we a still in or mommies. Do you see it now?" she inquired, her eyes gleaming.

"Oh, that makes sense," I said, nodding my head.

"Good! Now, we have to get some information straight so that they don't think that you have amnesia," my mom declared.

"Mother, what is Amn-aneisia-Amesia?" I asked in English.

"Its _Amnesia_," mom corrected me. "And it's when you forget things. They will probably keep you in the hospital longer if they think you have it," she explained.

"Wait, what exactly _is _a hospital. I know we are in it, but I do not know what it is," I said, scrunching my eyebrows together.

"It is a place where people called doctors take care of sick humans. Doctors have to go to school for a very long time, and learn how to take care of sick humans," she said.

"So that is the reason why the name of that human I is _Dr. Cullen_? I think that is a weird name, even if he is human," I thought out loud, practicing my English. Mother grimaced at me, and I shrugged.

"Well, anyways, I need to tell you some things so they don't keep you any longer. Your full name is Isabella Marie Swan. Say it," she said slowly, her eyes burning into mine. I repeated after her.

"My full name is Isabella Marie Swan," I said.

"Good. Now you are from Paris, France. This is why you are not very fluent in English.

"I am from Paris, France, and that is why I am not very fluent in English," I said, proud of my efforts. "What is Paris and France, though?" I asked, now curious.

"Paris is a city, and France is a country. Paris is inside of France, and since

"My mother's name is Renee swan-" I cut her off.

"But your name is Reefenna, mother," I tilted my head, not understanding.

"I know sweetie, but the humans think that Renee is what my name is."

"Why? " I asked.

Mom sighed as if this were a hard question to answer. "It's a long story. Just repeat after me, ok sweetie?" I nodded and she continued. "She is also from France. She is 39 years old. My father's name is Charlie Swan, and he is the chief of police in forks. He is American," she said slowly. I repeated what she said, and she smiled. "Good job, baby. The nurse should be here with your food. I'm warning you, hospital food is different from normal food. You may not like it-" I cut her off.

"Why are your eyes brown?" I asked, finally realizing the change in eye color.

She blushed a light pink, then smirked. "You like it? They're called contacts. They change your eye color. Humans usually don't have yellow eyes. Only some fish and Merpeople do, so I had to change my eye color." She explained.

"ah," I mouthed. Then something hit me. "Wait, then why does Dr. Cullen have yellow eyes?" I raised an eyebrow, puzzled. Mom opened her mouth to answer, but a sound near the rectangular hole cut her off. We both looked towards the hole, and my mother's pale face flushed dark crimson. Two male humans stood near the hole. One was tall and, compared to my mother and me, tan. He had a thick strip of dark brown facial hair covering his slim upper lip. His hair was short, and the same dark brown as his facial hair. His eyes were light brown and looked as if they were filled with fear. He as wearing dark clothes, and something shiny on his covered chest that looked like a starfish and was a golden color. He blushed when he was my mom, and they both seemed to look down at the same time when they saw each other. I figured that this was Charlie, because of the way my mom reacted to him. The other human had an amazing light bronze complexion, which had me mesmerized for a moment. His hair was a black, shiny color and was shoulder-length. He was way shorter than Charlie, and appeared to be sitting in an awkward thing I can't explain. Everyone stood in silence for a moment, bu then mom broke the silence.

"Hey! Uh, Bella, this is Billy," she motioned towards the dark short one. He nodded in my direction. "And, this is Charlie, your father. Charlie, uh, meet your daughter, Bella!" my mother said, trying to sound enthusiastic. She gestured towards me, and I waved nervously at the men. Charlie waved back, and whispered a small "hi".

Mother rolled her eyes, and made her way to Charlie, no longer blushing. "Oh, come on, Charlie. Give her a hug!" This time her enthusiasm was genuine. She dragged Charlie over to me, and then looked at me, as if telling me to hug my father. I timidly spread out my arms, inviting him to embrace me. Seeming hurt by my mother's grasp, he caressed his upper arm, and walked towards me. Charlie fell into my arms, and I enclosed my arms onto his body. He seemed oddly fragile as I hugged him.

"Bella, Isabella. My daughter. _My_ daughter. It really is nice to see you," he whispered into my hair.

"It is nice to see you too, father," I replied, hugging him tighter. He became stiff and tried to wiggle away from my grasp.

"Ow. I see you have your mother's supernatural strength," he said, and I quickly let go of him, embarrassed.

"I am sorry, father," I murmured, looking down.

My mother's perky voice made me look back up. "Well, I am going to see what is taking that nurse so long with Bella's food. Come on, Billy. You two need to catch up on seventeen years," Mother stated and she started pushing Billy outside the rectangular hole. I internally grimaced at my mother for leaving me alone with Charlie. It wasn't that I didn't like Charlie. I just wasn't a people mermaid. Conversing and swimming with penguins didn't really give me any social skills. For a moment, Charlie and I just sat there, staring at each other. I sensed that Charlie was like me: shy.

I tried to start a conversation. "So…. "Your occupation is the chief of Police, correct?" I asked, starting to become aware of my odd accent that was different from the humans' accent.

Charlie, who was standing near my feet looked up, seeming surprised by my question. "Um, yes. Yes I am," he answered nervously.

"Oh, that is very cool, father. Would you explain to me what a _Chief of police_ does? I am not very fluent in my English, as you have heard," I said, trying to sound as casual as I could.

Charlie sat down on an odd looking thing with four legs and two flat, big faces that was against a wall of the room. **(a/n I don't really know how to explain a chair, sorry. I know it sounds stupid, but yea.) **"Um, sure. No problem. A chief of police is the person who directs and leads the police force in their region. I would say it in French, but I'm a little rusty in that area," he chuckled to himself. _What is French? is that their word for Merlanguage? He knows Merlanguage?_ I asked myself.

"Oh, ok. It is ok, I think I get it. So, what do you desire to talk about?" I inquired curiously, cocking my head to the side.

Charlie inhaled deeply, and then shrugged his shoulders timidly. "Uh, I don't know. Do you like France better, or America?" this question made me freeze. I had no idea how to answer this question, especially since I had never lived in either place.

"Um, I- I do not know. It is hard to say, father," I finally answered. Charlie nodded slowly, and mouthed a slow "oh".

We sat in silence for another moment, when Charlie broke the silence this time. "

"What's your favorite color?"

"Um, my favorite color is, uh, purple," I responded. Purple wasn't actually my favorite color, I just thought of it. I actually didn't have a favorite color. I like all colors.

So, uh, you're a junior, right?"

"Um, yes, I believe so. is there a reason why, father?" I asked, not having any clue what I was talking about.

"No reason. Just trying to make conversation. Um, you like school?"

I faintly remembered this word, and dug into different memories to find the meaning of it. _School of fish. A group of fish. School. School. Ah, school! Where humans learn stuff! _"Yes, I do like school, very much. It is very interesting." I answered.

"That's good. Finish school. Then you'll be set for life." Charlie murmured. Then he noticed something in the room that made his eyes beam. "Do you mind if I turn on the TV? The patriots have a game against the giants today, and I think it is in a couple of minutes," he asked eager, already getting up and walking towards a black box that was attached to the ceiling.

"Um, no I do not mind. You may watch _Giants _and _Patriots _play a game on the _TV_." I answered not knowing what any of these thongs were. He touched it, and then the square box abruptly came to life. I jumped as the sound waves hit me suddenly.

Charlie seemed to notice my reaction, and touched it again, making the volume go down. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realize it was so loud. Sorry, Bella," he mumbled.

"It is ok, father," I replied, and this ended our brief conversation. We both stared at the TV; Charlie was absorbed in the game and I was mesmerized by the little people moving so fast across the TV. _it's so colorful. How do the humans become that small, and with that amount of sound....._ I asked myself as I blindly gawked at the black box. A few minutes later, I heard my mother's loud dolphin-like laugh drift in from outside the room. My stomach churned and I remembered that I was supposed to eat something.

"Bells! Charlie! I hope you like chicken and asparagus!" mother rang out as she and Billy entered the room.

Charlie got up to greet them. "mm, sounds delicious! What do you think, Bella?" Charlie asked, turning back to me after grabbing something hot from my mother.

"uh, it sounds delicious, as you said," I said, unsure of what I was saying. I caught a whiff of something that smelled nauseating. I gagged momentarily, but then composed myself.

"Sorry, Bella. it was the only thing they had downstairs," Billy said, seeing my expression to the smell. Charlie gave a small, white, warm fragile box to me. As I opened it, the disgusting smell wafted into my nose. I had to cover my nose with one hand to keep me from throwing up.

"Bells, are you ok?" my mother asked, worry filling her artificially brown eyes.

"Yea, the smell just took me by surprise, that is all," I said, closing the top of the human food.

My mom sighed, and took the box from me. "Well, just try it, baby. I know it's different, but just to have something in your stomach," she insisted, reopening the box. She took out a thin, white object that resembled my trident , which I had totally forgotten about. As she poked the bizarre food with the mini trident , and motioned for me to open my mouth, I felt my hair for my trident . I had even forgotten what a trident was. The last time I had used it was probably 3 months ago, to fight off a tiger shark. I relaxed when I felt it, nestled in my hair.

"try it, Bella. Open wide, sweetie," my mom said, now holding the nasty food near my mouth. I grimaced and bit the hot brown meat ff of the small white trident . The same instant I took in the mystery meat, I spit it out.

"Ew! That tastes even more unpleasant than it smells!" I hissed, my face twisting with disgust.

Charlie turned to look at me, as if he were hurt. "I-I don't know, Bella. It tastes pretty good to me," he said, his moth full of the human food.

"Do you want it?" I offered, taking it out of my mother's hands and shoving it in Charlie's direction.

"yea, um sure. Thanks" Charlie turned to take the food out of my offering hands. My mother sighed, but didn't say anything.

Billy, who was standing-or sitting in the corner, spoke up. "Well, I better, uh get going. Jacob is waiting for me at home, and it looks like the rain is going to start again soon," he said, rolling towards my bed.

"Bella, it was been really nice meeting you. You should come over to LaPush sometime, and meet Jacob," he suggested.

"That sounds nice. Thank you for coming, Billy," I replied, as Charlie set his food down and walked towards Billy.

"It's dangerous driving out there, Billy. I should drive you to the reservation," Charlie cut in, his voice filled with concern.

Billie shook his head, starting to debate. "No, it's ok Charlie. You need to stay here-" Charlie cut Billy off.

"Renee, do you mind if I take Billy home?" she asked, his voice more timid.

Mother shook her head, and answered," no, no that won't be a problem. It's okay, Billy. I don't you to have to come back to the hospital for more serious reasons." My mother said with compassion.

"Ok, Renee. Well, then Bella, I will be seeing you soon. Bye Renee," Billy said as he patted my covered leg, and then proceeded to hug my mother.

Charlie wore a shy smile while he followed Billy's actions. "Well, Bella, I'll see you in about an hour. See you soon uh, Renee," he said nervously. Both Charlie and my mom turned crimson red when they hugged each other, and I swear I saw the faint yellow light of my mother's crystal get darker. Suddenly remembering her crystal, I searched my chest for my own. When I felt the cold crystal, I lifted it out of my baggy clothes. The light of it was dimmed, almost unlit from the light already in the room. I tucked it back into my clothes. Charlie hugged me, and then pushed Billy out of the room. My mother, whose angelic face beamed with happiness, collapsed onto my bed, making it jump.

"I'm taking it you're happy now?" I asked in my native tongue.

She looked up at me with her brown eyes, and nodded. "I'm ecstatic." She flipped her body around, so that her body was parallel to mine. She placed her elbows on my chest, and used her hands to support her face so that she could talk to me more clearly. "so how do you like Charlie?" she inquired, eager for my answer.

I rolled my eyes teasingly. "I have to like him. He's my _father_. Why wouldn't I like him?" She hit me playfully on my stomach. "so that's a yes? I knew you would! He's a good man. Shy, but good," she continued.

"Hmm, that's nice," I said, feeling my consciousness drifting off.

"So what were you watching on TV? you know what football is too? Man, you were born to be human, Bells!" my mother jabbered, unaware that I was falling asleep.

"Yea, mommy, that's great, but I think I'm going to sleep right now." I said, letting my eyelids drop.

"Ok, Bella. Sleep tight, baby," I heard my mother say, her voice like an angel's. I let the sleepiness take over me, and I fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

hii pplz!! just hold on, all of your favorite vamires are around the corner!!!!

i personally think this chapter is borrin. i'm not sure i'm supposed to say that about my own story, but whatever

i hope you like it review pleaz!!! thnx!!

bye!

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The next few days were interesting, but nothing special. The doctor talked with me, to see if I had lost any of my memory. Si had also talked with Charlie, and got to know him better. He was more like me than I would have dreamed. Renee taught me some everyday human objects, and show to eat human food. I had came to hate hospital food, so my mother had to buy raw fish from the fish market and sneak it to me in my hospital room. Renee had also taught me some words in French, to make our charade of having come from France more real. Billy had come to see once more, and watched TV with me. The hospital let me out four days after I had waken up from my three day coma.

"Bella, come in here. I need to show you how to use the toilet," my mother called from the bathroom. I groaned, and got up from my warm, soft bed. _I could get used to this human thing_, I thought as I snuck past Charlie, who was snoring loudly. I snickered at my father sleeping as I made my way to my mother. As I entered the bathroom, which was lightened with ultraviolet lighting, I gasped in amazement. I looked to the left, and saw a beautiful woman standing opposite of me.

"Mom, who's that?" I asked, now suddenly aware of my appearance. She made the same movements that I made, and seemed to be wearing the same hospital dress. I slowed my hand gestures, staring at the woman.

My mother snorted at my question, as if it were funny. "That _woman_ is _you_," she said, now laughing her high pitched laugh. I tilted my head and scrunched my browns eyebrows together. I reached out for my reflection, couching something cold and smooth. I now recognized my long, waist-length now wavy hair and my pale skin. I stared into my own eyes, seeing the curiosity build up in them.

"My eyes really _are_ brown," I whispered to myself as I observed my chocolate brown eyes. They were like my father's maybe darker. My hair, which was a dark auburn color shone in the awkward light. My eyes were big, like my mother's, and were lined with very thick eyelashes. My eyebrows, which were darker than my hair, seemed as if I had gotten them done, because they were perfectly shaped. My lips were full, the upper lip a tiny bit fuller than my bottom lip. My cheekbones seemed very defined, and made me look even more woman-like. My hair was tousled, making it look like a large sea urchin on my head. The trident imbedded in my hair looked like it was a huge tangle on the top of my head. My chin was slightly pointed. For some reason, the shape of my face reminded me of a heart. Slowly, I touched my face with my hand, tracing my features. I smiled, amazed at my beauty. "What is this?" I asked my mother, mesmerized by myself.

"It's a mirror, baby," she answered, waiting for me near the other side of the small room. "It reflects things. Now about the toilet-" I cut mom off, hardly paying attention to her.

"It reflects exactly what things look like? So I look like this?" I asked, astonished.

"Yes, baby, yes! You are that gorgeous. Do you think you would have came out of me and been ugly?" she asked me, acting hurt by this assumption.

I chuckled at her statement, still staring at myself. I lifted my shirt, to see my full body.

"Whoa, whoa, baby girl! There are men in here! You can't just take your clothes off like that! Do you know what that is called? It's called stripping-" my mother rushed towards the rectangular- er- door and closed it, blocking Charlie's view of us. Not that that he could do anything; he was sleeping for the love of starfish.

"This is amazing!" I said, now ignoring my mother completely. I twisted my body, laughing at my new discovery. My body was like my mother's; small waist, big hips, proportioned thighs, healthy breasts, and a one pack. I let my white cloth dress splattered with ducks fall on my body I started lifting locks of hair up and inspecting them as if I were looking for something underneath. "This is amazing! What is it made out of?" I asked my mother, finally ripping my eyes away from the mirror and focusing them on my mother.

"Um, I don't know. But I need to show you how to use the toilet. You can't just pee on yourself-"

"Why don't you just use that pan we have been using?" I asked, watching myself again.

"Because they only use that for humans who can't use the toilet. Now, first, to use the toilet, you have to-" a knock on the door cut her off. She inhaled deeply, and then opened the door.

"Ma'am?" a female nurse said softly. "I am here to remind you that Isabella gets dismissed in ten minutes. Dr. Cullen would like to see her before she leaves," she said in a small, inclined voice.

"Ok. Thank you very much," my mom responded, slipping past the petite blonde. I did the same, and smiled at her as I did. Unfortunately I tripped over her stubby foot, and was sent flying towards the floor.

"Bella? Are you okay?" Mother asked me, picking me up from the floor like a reflex.

The nurse dropped her uh, clipboard and bent down to help me as well. "I am so sorry, Ms. Swan. Are you ok?" I nodded, answering both the nurse and my mother. After they helped me up, I brushed off my dress and walked towards a chair that held a bag of clothes my mother had bought for me. The nurse held my right elbow to help me keep my balance. I grabbed the bag and walked back to the bathroom, closing the door. I set the bag on the closed toilet, and began to take off my cloth dress, leaving my sports bra and panties on. I took out a rough, dark blue pair of clothing that I had just very recently learned were pants. After experimenting with them a couple times, I finally got them on the right way; the pockets on my bottom, and the viper in the front. Next I took out a piece of white soft cloth that turned out to be a long sleeved shirt. I put my head through the big hole, and slid my arms through the long sleeves. I stared at myself in the mirror. The white shirt looked as if it were a shade lighter than my skin. The dark blue pants popped out on my pale body. When I was done fixing myself, I called my mother in for a double check. When she walked in, she looked as if she were about to cry.

"How do I look? Do I look human enough, mother?" I asked, twirling around.

"You look perfect, sweetie. But just fix your hair, Bells." She came closer to me to fix my hair. She untangled my trident , then used the teeth of in to brush out the tangles in my hair. When she was done, she placed the trident back in my hair, making it look like a hair ornament.

"There. You look like an angel," my mom said, her eyes tearing up. I smiled, and then hugged her.

"Thank you mother. Let us go wake up Charlie, uh I am sorry, father." I said in English.

We walked out of the bathroom, and I grabbed my bottle of saltwater from the small wooden table. Merpeople, when on land, have to drink seawater, or if not, at least saltwater to keep us hydrated. If we don't, we become weak, and it can come to the point where we _die_ and dry up. I gulped down the salty water, savoring the taste as my mother woke Charlie up.

"Charlie, it's time to go. Bella's being dismissed in about 5 minutes. Dr. Cullen wanted to see her first, though. Can you get the car ready?"

Charlie groaned and got up from his slumped position in the chair, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He nodded groggily and started to get up. His eyes seemed to pop when he saw me.

"Hey Bells," he said. Charlie had taken up to calling me 'Bells'. I didn't mind the name, though. "You look very nice today," he said as he stretching his arms and yawned.

"Thank you," I responded, playing with my crystal as my mother and I sat on my bed, which the nurse had already made. Charlie gave me a small wave before he left the room to go get his cruiser. I waved back, waiting for Dr. Cullen to arrive. My mother came to my side, fixing my hair. I rolled my eyes at her. "Would you please leave my hair alone? I want to look like a normal human, not like a model or something," I said, seeing the make-up bag she was pulling out of her larger black tote bag.

She sighed, and then gave up. "Fine, Bella. Whatever you say," she mumbled as Dr. Cullen walked through the door. My mother and I came to the conclusion these past couple of days that Dr. Cullen was some sort of human that was experimented on. This explained why he doesn't have a heartbeat and has golden eyes, that change color, and his skin is as cold and hard as my crystal. It doesn't however explain his inhuman beauty. I'm still trying to figure that out.

"Good evening, Isabella. Mrs. Swan," Dr Cullen greeted us.

"Hi, Dr. Cullen," my mother and I said in unison. 'Hi' was a new word that I had just learned yesterday.

"Open your eyes wide. I bet you're excited that you're leaving the hospital, Isabella," he said, grinning as he checked my eyes with his light thing.

I chuckled. "yes, I am very excited." My mother stood to the side, watching the doctor and me converse.

"That's good. Open wide and say 'aah'," he took out a flat wooden stick, to observe my mouth. His face became curious. "you have very interesting teeth, Isabella. May I have a closer look at them?" he inquired, coming closer to my face. My mother, who was behind him, shook her head ferociously. I snapped my jaw shut, breaking the wooden stick in half.

I blushed, and then took the broken stick out of my mouth, handing it to the doctor, who was shocked. "I am sorry, Dr. Cullen. My teeth just hurt, that is all. It would hurt for you to observe them," I said, realizing my quick lie didn't make any sense.

Dr. Cullen have me an odd look for a moment, then his angelic smile spread on his lips. " it's ok, Bella. I think that you're good to go," he responded , turning to my nervous mother. "Mrs. Swan, you have my phone number. If anything happens, or you need to speak to me, just call me. Ok?"

My mother other nodded her head. "Thank you again so much for everything, Dr. Cullen. I hope we keep in touch," my mother smiled at him as she made her way to me.

"No problem, Mrs. Swan. Well, Isabella, I guess I'll see you around," Dr. Cullen said, his darkened eyes glittering with compassion.

"Ok, dr. Cullen. Thank you for making me better," I said as my mother dragged me out of the room a little too fast for human speed. I almost tripped over my feet. .

"No problem, uh, Isabella. Bye," he said as he watched my mother drag me out of the room.

"that was a close one! If he looked at your teeth, we would've had to go back to the ocean," my mother breathed, as we rushed past nurses, doctors, and sick humans. She slowed down her pace, to look more human. This was the first time that I was actually going to walk out of my room without being in a wheelchair. My mother finally slowed her pace to a walk, and intertwined her arm in mine to prevent me from falling.

"Why? What's wrong with my teeth?" I asked, offended.

She chuckled at the hurt in my voice. "Nothing is _wrong_ with your teeth, baby. Merpeople just have different molar teeth from humans. Ours are smaller than theirs, and sharper. Their food doesn't require them to have sharp molar teeth, so theirs are flatter," she explained in a low voice so any humans couldn't hear our conversation.

"Oh, ok," I said as we made our way towards the glass doors. I breathed in the cool, fresh air. Then a large, metal monster like thing roared din front of us. I screamed, and jumped back, ready to run, even though I had never ran before. The monster was red, white and blue and had a golden star on it. There were red and blue lights on top of it, flashing. Black, think wheels on the bottom seemed to make it move.

"What's wrong, Isabella?" I mother asked, seeing the fear in my eyes.

"what- what- tha-that thing is- is-" I was so terrified I couldn't speak.

My mother relaxed when she saw what I was taking about. "Oh, that? sweetie, that's called a car. It's Charlie's police car. They use it to go places faster, she explained, though this did not calm me. "come on, Bella. just get inside the car, please?" my mother pleaded as she tried to push me into the open car. I stood my ground, not that I could have moved if I wanted to, anyways. My feet were planted to the ground, struck with fear. The heat waves and smell rolling off of it was traumatizing, well at least to me. it looked deadly and unsafe.

"Is everything ok back there?" I heard Charlie call from somewhere inside the car.

"Yea, everything's fine, Charlie. Bella just needs a minute to breathe. being in a hospital for a long time can make you a little coo-coo, you know," my mother chuckled nervously as she literally slammed into me to make me move.

"Ow!" I said asshe used all of her strength to pound into my back. There was a slight thud when she did this, and the slight pain made me stumble forward. I almost fell, but used the car as a support. i froze in frea, waiting for pain to occur as my plams laid on the back of the car.

"See? It's not that bad, Bella." my mother insisted as she slid into the car. "see? Look, I'm still in one piece," she whispered to me, so Charlie wouldn't hear our odd conversation. I hesitantly followed her lead, and glided into the scar. Inside, it had an awkward, leathery smell. The black seat-like things were cold, and kind of hard, in a way. Charlie was in the front, and a plastic thing separated him from my mother and me. it was cozily warm in the car, though, and I relaxed a little. My mother closed the entrance we came in, and I became still again. The car started to move, and so did my heart. I began to hyperventilate, thinking of all the terrible things that could happen. Over the last few days on land, I had learned that I was much stronger and durable than humans, who seemed as fragile as kelp. No, kelp is more resilient than humans. They are like, baby fish. Fragile and vulnerable. Horrible accidents in this car played in my head. Charlie splattered all over the place. My mother and me possibly being injured, but nothing serious. I shuddered at the thought of Charlie _dead_ and ordered myself to stop thinking like this. My mother patted my hair delicately, calming me. I looked out what I guessed was a window, watching the land fly past us.

"I hope you like your new room, Bells," Charlie started.

"Yea, me too," I responded blankly, still frightened. My only 'room', if I could call it that, was holes in caves that we used as dwellings, and occasionally. Once, a sea turtle's shell, but that was it. The ride to Charlie's house was pretty silent. I coughed once, but that was it. My mother fumbled over her newly attained 'split ends'. I played with my chain, trying not to scare myself by looking out the window. I was the one to break the silence. "So, um, when am I starting my 'junior year' in the local high school?" I asked shyly. My mother scrunched her eyebrows together, thinking. Charlie answered. "uh, Tomorrow," me mother nodded her head after she said this.

"Yea, tomorrow. Don't worry, it'll be fun. I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends, baby." My mom said, seeing the sudden panic in my eyes.

"Yea, sure ok. I don't need to remind you that I have never been to school, or made contact with teenager humans. Sure, it'll be fine," I hissed quickly under my breath in Merlanguage, so only my mother could hear. She grimaced at me, and then went back to splitting her ends on her short hair. I rested my head on the cold chair-thing, and closed my eyes. I tried to picture what school what be like, from what my mother had told me. She never went to high school, because she was too old, but she knew from other humans and movies. I shuddered, thinking of the movie I had seen about high school. _Mean girls_. Mom had told me that that movie exaggerated high school life, but you never know. I felt the car slow, and relaxed my rigid position.

"we're here!!" my mother squealed as she clapped her hands together like a child.

"yep, here it is," Charlie said, the car finally coming to a stop. I exhaled deeply, glad that the journey was over. My mother opened the door, and jumped out of the car. I calmly and steadily slid out of it, grabbing my small pink salt-water bottle. Mother skipped towards a small, whitish-grayish house. I had never seen a house in real life before. Only in a magazine, and that house was bizarrely huge. Humans seem to be very materialistic, and I was glad that Charlie's house wasn't as big as the one on the magazine. It had what I presumed was grass growing in front of it, and there were stairs in front of the doorway. Charlie took out a thin piece of metal, and stuck it in the door, twisting it until there was a _click_. He turned it clockwise then pushed the door open. I followed my parents into the tiny house, almost stumbling over my feet in the doorway.

"Ta-da!" mother cried, a huge smile on her full lips. I took in my new surroundings. There was a staircase to the upstairs, and a hallway that went into two other rooms. I followed my mother down the hallway. As Charlie went upstairs. "This is the living room," mother pointed to a rectangular shaped room that seemed to be the biggest room in the house. It had a small TV, and a long, soft-looking green chair. Separating the big chair and the little TV was a wooden table with glass as the top. On the far wall facing the hallway, was a fireplace.

"Nice place you have got here. It is way better than a cave," I said, and my mother grinned at me.

"I know, right?" She dragged me along further down the short hallway. The smell of human food hit me, and I almost turned away to prevent myself from throwing up. Mother, oblivious to my reaction, hauled me into the disgusting-smelling room. "And this is the kitchen, Bella!"

"Uh-huh, nice. What is that smell?" I asked impatiently, already knowing the source of the smell. I didn't have time to look at the appearance of the small kitchen because I turned my back to it.

"It's food. Why?" my mom smelt the air, not knowing what was wrong with it.

"Well, it smells gross. Can I see my room no, please?" I asked, already walking to the staircase at the other end of the hallway.

"O-Okay," my mom followed me, confused. I walked up the furry stairs, evaluating my every step. When I got to the top, I let mother get in front of me to lead the way. Straight ahead was a small bathroom, and on each side of the staircase was a room. My mother guided me to the room on the left of the staircase, and opened the door.

Charlie, who was kneeling down near a wooden table, stood up. "Uh, this is, your, uh, room," he smiled nervously and gestured towards the little space. On the left wall stood a old table, which Charlie stood next to. In front of it was a black cushiony chair that appeared to have small wheels on it's small three legs. It held a white bulky TV with a lot of wires coming out of it. Charlie was holding a white phone in his hand, and quickly set it down on the table. A bed rested against the right wall and there was a big window that was above it.

"How do you like it?" mother pressed, dancing around there was room.

"It's nice. Thank you, mother. Thank you, father." I said, walking towards the bed to sit on it. My mother danced towards me to give me a hug, and Charlie came over hesitantly to join in.

"Aw, you're welcome, baby," my mom said into my hair as Charlie tried to find a spot in the hug. I guess he felt left out. Me sat there for a moment, hugging. then I tried to wiggle out of my parents' grasp.

"Well, it is getting late. I must take a bath, now, to get ready for tomorrow," I said, trying to sound excited.

My mom nodded. "Ok, sweetie we'll let you get ready for bed."

"Do you want any dinner, Bells? I'm going to order some pizza," Charlie asked quietly.

I internally gagged at the thought of human food. "Um, no. that is okay. I had food at the hospital," I explained, remembering the yummy salmon I had.

"Oh, ok. Well, I guess I'll leave you two girls alone," Charlie said as he backed out of the room and closed the door.

"ok. I'll be downstairs to eat in a minute," my mother called after him. When we heard his footsteps lead downstairs, my mother opened her tote bag and took out a cold, metal box. I smelt dead fish and my mouth started to water (no pun intended). Even though I would prefer live fish as opposed to fish that had been dead for days, and possibly _months, _it was better than nothing.

"May I have some?" I asked, already reaching out for the box. She withdrew it from my reach, shaking her head.

"Until I can get a bigger cooler and hunt more fish, we have to conserve what fish we have," she explained. "I'm going to put this in the freezer. Even though Charlie fishes, he would become suspicious if they just started disappearing, so that's why we have to have our own stash," she said, opening the top of the box. My eyes popped and I greedily grabbed two baby tuna fish from their ice beds. Ignoring the coldness, I sloshed the meat around in my mouth, relishing the taste. I rolled my eyes back into my head moaning at the goodness of the flavor, and licked my fingers, eager for more. Mother, seeing my ravenous hands searching for more food, closed the top shut.

"hey! I am hungry!" I whined, my stomach growling for more.

She shook her head, then shrugged. "there's always Pizza," she said, walking towards the door,

I shook my head in disgust, thinking of the greasy, slimy bread and cheese food. "no, I am not _that_ hungry,' I lied, mapping out a plan of how I would get my meal later that night.

She shrugged her shoulders again. "it's your stomach," she murmured as she made her way to a closet that I had not seen. She opened the tan-colored wooden doors and revealed a whole wardrobe of clothing. I groaned.

"I am really starting to not like clothes! They are so annoying!" I complained as my mother pulled something out of the closet. It was a pair of baggy, peach colored pants and a little peach colored shirt.

"They're your pajamas! She squealed excitedly.

"When did you get the time to get all of these?" I moaned.

"When you were knocked out in the hospital," she said as she inspected her outfit for me.

"What are pajamas for anyways?" I asked, collapsing on my bed. left my room.

"So you can sleep in them," she muttered.

I popped up. "Um, no. I am sleeping naked," I contradicted.

She sighed, then reluctantly put the pajamas back in the closet. "Fine," she mumbled, disappointed that I didn't want to wear the pajamas. She closed the closet, then made her way to my door. "Good night, Bella. Sleep tight, baby" my mother blew me a kiss as she closed my door. I sighed then let my body collapse on my bed. I sat there for a moment, staring at my new ceiling. Then I got up and started to take off my irritating clothes. I didn't bother going to the bathroom taking a bath like I had said. I don't need to take baths. Even if I did need to take baths, it would be almost impossible. When merpeople are in human form, we can't get wet or else we'll phase into our original form. The soap would ruin our tails, scrubbing the oil off of it. Sure, we could replace the lost oil from our body making more, but it would weaken our immune system. After I was done, I turned off the light, using the light switch near the door. It had amazed me how much I had learned about human life in just a couple of days. My crystal's white light brightened, acting as a lamp, even though I could see perfectly fine in the dark. The darkness on land was nothing compared to the blackness in the very bottom of the ocean. I crawled into my new bed, smelling the florally smell of the sheets. I stared out my window, seeing the green forest and the slight cloudy air. Downstairs, the TV was blasting and my parents were laughing. I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. I listened to my mother's angelic chortles downstairs, and used that as a lullaby to help me sleep.

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review pleaz!!


	8. Chapter 8

thank you vampire archangel for giving me that idea! i never thought of it before

yea so here is the eighth chapter. tell me if u want me 2 change anything

thnx for reading and enjoy!! i hope u lyk it!!

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When I woke up, I could hardly see out of my darkened window. It was so cloudy outside, or something that resembled clouds, at least. I closed my eyes again, feeling weary. i guess I feel asleep, because it was lighter when someone knocked on the door. "Bella? Are you awake, honey?" my mother said, poking her head into my room. I raised my hand from under my warm covers, showing I was awake. "Well, then get up!" she cried, instantly at my side.

I moaned, waving her away. I heard her suck her teeth as she pulled my protective covers away from me. "Hey!" I barked, trying to grab my covers. I sat up, glaring at her for waking me up my slumber. I usually wasn't this grumpy in the morning.

She shook her head playfully. "Typical cranky human teenager," she said, shaking her head continually. I grimaced at her, then collapsed back down on my big pillow.

Come, on, Bella. get up! You don't want to be late on your first day of school," she whined, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the floor. _Thud_.

"Ow, mother." I hissed, even though it didn't hurt.

She rolled her eyes. "Please, that didn't hurt. I have your outfit ready!" she squealed, dancing to the table. I squinted, to see a pile of cloth. I got up unsteadily, my knees buckling.

"Do I _really_ have to go?" I complained as I gulped down some salt water from my bottle.

My mother looked at me as if this were a dumb question. "Um, yes! I had to go to college when I was human." I rolled my eyes again, twisting my crystal around. She fluffed out a beige shirt with a poor image of a red-headed mermaid with a green tail. Next to the fake mermaid picture, it said, _'The little Mermaid'_. next she unfolded a pair of indigo blue jeans. She rolled these up over a white bra and panties, and then tossed the ball to me. I put them on, and we headed downstairs.

"Uh, err, I only have codfish," mom said as she poked her head through the refrigerator.

I groaned. I hated codfish. "what happened to the tuna from yesterday?" I asked impatiently, my stomach growling. She pointed into her mouth blushing. "That's seriously all you have?" I whined.

She nodded resentfully. "Yea. Sorry, Bella. There's always human food," she suggested. I shook my head violently, trying not to remember the disgusting taste. She shrugged her shoulders. I spied a red meat-looking thing. "What's that?" I asked curiously. She grimaced at the package, but pulled it out anyways.

"let me try it," I said desperately, gesturing for her to give I to me.

What? This? It's land animal meat. Eer, ground beef" she said, reading something on it.

"Kay. It tastes _way_ different than fish, just to tell you. I personally don't like it, though." She unpacked the meat, and gave it to me, her face all scrunched up with disgust. I picked up a stand of the stringy meat, watching the sweet-smelling blood drip down. I let it drop in my mouth, savoring the taste. "It is actually not that bad," I said, eating the rest.

My mother looked at me with an odd look. "How is it that I am not even human and I like human food, but _you _are half human and you don't like human food?" she asked breathlessly. I shrugged my shoulders carelessly, not really paying attention to her question. She pulled out a pink bag, and handed it to me.

"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked, staring dumbly at the bag.

"It's your schoolbag silly!" mother said. I mouthed a dramatic "Ah" as she unzipped it, and took out a couple of skinny books. "These are your notebooks. They're for you to write in. The teachers will probably tell you what to do with them. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know." She flipped through a purple notebook, and I could see that other than the thin blue lines on the pages, they were blank. She pulled out a thin yellow box. "All of your writing utensils are in here. This is your pencil box. Then, this is your cell phone. It's a phone, just you can take it anywhere and it's smaller than a normal phone, obviously." She held a tiny silver piece of metal in her hand. I could feel radio waves coming from this little thing, and I took it from her hand, curious. I after a couple of tries, I opened it, and felt the electricity waves being pumped from it like a pulse. On the top half of the phone it had a colorful screen like a TV, only it was smaller. On the bottom half, it had what I had recently learned what was a keyboard, only it had less keys. I played with it, pressing the keys and watching numbers appear on the screen.

"This is so cool, mother," I squealed, watching the 6s and 7s flashing on the display.

Mother grabbed the phone from me, closing it. "Don't break it, Bells. It's meant for human strength, not our kind of strength," she said, reopening it. I nodded, and she put everything back in my schoolbag. "Now, when you get to school, there are going to be a lot of male humans with _a lot _of testosterone. Try not to be affected by this, you could hurt a human." She motioned me towards the kitchen door, leading outside.

"What do you mean I could hurt a human?" I started to panic, imagining the things that could happen. She handed me a big bulk of cloth that was supposed to be a coat, and I put it on.

"Oh uh, well, for starters, your uh, trident," she said, not really answering my question.

"What about my trident? It's always in my hair, so how would hurt a human?" I debated.

"If a human, for example, wants to see it, and you take it out of your hair, they could open it not knowing what they're doing, and stab themselves. Remember Aquaria?" mother asked, recalling the bad memory. She was a mermaid who we –well my mother- had stopped to talk to. I was about eleven or twelve. Aquaria wanted to see my trident, and I let her take it out of my hair, forgetting only I knew how to open it. When it did open, it stabbed her in the torso. It healed eventually I guess, but the sight of the purple blood floating around me made me want to faint. I will never forget that day.

"But I wouldn't let a human get near me, let alone my _trident_," I clutched my trident, now taking it out of my hair and embracing it.

Mother thought for a moment. "That's true. Oh, I didn't tell you how the testosterone affects you, though," she walked towards a small, yellow car. I stopped, remembering the horrible feeling I had the last time I was in a car. She saw my uneasiness, and laughed. "It's not loud or noisy, Bells. It's a Mercedes, so it doesn't make that much sound." Come on. It looks like it's gonna rain!" I ran towards the low car, not wanting to get wet, as good as that sounded.

"So explain this testosterone thing to me, mother," I said as we got into the car. I inhaled the odd, tingling smell inside the car. She started it, and I tensed, preparing myself for the intense energy waves. I opened an eye the trees bye me flashing past. I felt the faint energy waves, but it was more peaceful than horrifying this time. I listened to my mother's lecture. "Anyways, the testosterone makes you in kind of like mating season mode. Like the whales or dolphins, when they are in season? Yea, you are going to feel like you are in season, even though merpeople don't go into season. It feels like a tingling down here," she pointed to in between her legs, not watching the road. "And you are going to want to fulfill this feeling. You are going to try, well not ,try- you are going to flirt with the males and try to get them to mate with you, or as the humans call it, have _sex_ with you." I listened, imagining my behavior in my head. "You can't stop this feeling, and it's very hard to resist it. I wouldn't be mad at you if you slipped up and mated with a male, but try not to, please," she said, her yellow eyes burning into mine.

"But how is that dangerous?" I asked, confused.

"You could kill them. We are way stronger than humans, if you hadn't noticed," she pointed out. "Another thing. Don't put too much pressure on them when you touch them, if that makes sense. It would break their bodies. They don't have half the strength that we do, even though you're 1/3 human." She shook her head as if pitying the humans.

"wait? Aren't we half human?" I asked, confused.

She snorted as if this were funny. "No, we are not. We are half aquadea. I think the humans call them, um, sirens." Now I was officially lost. For 17 years, I had thought that _all _merpeople were half human. "the aquadea part of you actually causes you to want to mate. See, what they used to do, and still do to this very day, is- oh, look! The school!" she cut herself off in mid sentence. She pointed to a group of small buildings.

"Do I really have to go?" I complained, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Don't be such a guppy," she said, her answer obviously being a no. I felt the car slow down from its fast speed. When it stopped, she practically sprang out of the car, and, I followed her slowly. When I opened the door, the smell of estrogen and testosterone hit me as if I had swam-er-ran into a rock. My mother pointed something at the car, and the car beeped, sending jolts up my spine. I jumped away from the car, knowing I couldn't trust cars anymore. I felt the multiple hearts and breathing of the humans. I felt the delicateness of their bodies, if that is even possible. The testosterone gave me a new, odd energy that I didn't have a couple of seconds ago. I looked up to see about 20 or 30 humans staring at my mother and me. I looked down, feeling awkward. The loud sounds and irritating smells of cars in the school clearing didn't really help, either. I scrunched my forehead in pain, trying to block out the loud sounds and ignoring the gawking humans at the same time. "They're just humans, Bells," she said under her breathe so only I could hear. _She's right. They can't do anything to me_, I thought, giving myself the confidence that I never had. I rose me head slowly, and met my mother's peppy pace. We walked into a small building with a lot of plants in it. It was cluttered, with magazines and papers all over the place. At the other end of the room was an aged female, with red hair. Her heartbeat was slow and steady. "Hello, miss, Jennings," my mother sang out, startling the human. She jumped, and looked up from her low chair behind a table.

"Um, he-hello. What can I do for you today?" she said, her heart accelerating. I don't know why.

"Yes, please! this is Isabella Swan." She leaned in more towards the human. "she prefers to be called Bella, though!" she whispered. The human nodded, and started to rummage through a large stack of papers on her table.

"Oh, yes. I've heard about Is- uh Bella. You're uh, Charlie swan's wi-wife, right?" she asked, seeming unsteady about something.

"Yes, I am. He's a great man, isn't he?" mother swooned, getting lost in her own world. I nudged her, bringing her back to earth.

"Um, ye-yes he is. Now, Bella, um, here is your schedule, map and your slips for the teachers. Whe-when you uh, go into each class, you have to uh, give one slip to them.

They will sign it and give it back to you. The number next to the classes on your map and schedule is where the class is. At the end of day, you have to return the slips. " She handed the small group of papers to me.

"Thank you," I said smiling at her.

"Well, Miss, Jennings, we'll be seeing you later!" mother sang as she danced towards the door.

"Ho-how did you-oh," I heard the human say under her breathe, looking at a tag on her purple shirt and remembering something. I gave herr a small wave, and hurried after my overly-hyper mother. When the door opened, I felt and smelt hormones in the air. The noises coming from the cars gave me an instant headache. _I'm not sure if my body can take anymore of this torture, _I thought helplessly.

"see that wasn't so bad!" my mother said right in my ear, not helping. She grabbed my shoulders, and looked into my eyes. Her eyes were their natural color today, but I didn't really pay attention to it. She seemed to be oblivious to the racket all around us. Then I smelt something sweet and odd.

"do you smell that?" I asked, pulling away from her grasp. she smelt the air for a second, then shook her head, curious.

"No… what are you talking about?" she questioned as she took my map and schedule from me. I ignored the humans around us.

"that sweet smell. It looks like it's coming from over here…." I trailed off, walking towards the source. My mother steered me back to where she was walking to.

"Bella, you have to get to your very first class of your life! You can explore later." She insisted. I decided to listen to her and let her drag me to my first class. "Now, when humans talk to you, answer them. Politely, though. And when a human is sitting next to you or something, say hello, and make friends. Don't say anything that will reveal what you are, though. Okay?" my mother said as we stopped in front of a red building. It had the number **4** painted on the side. Humans who were entering the building stared at my mother and me as they passed.

"I'll be back to pick you up at 3pm

"I don't want to leave you," I said in a low, pleading voice.

"Aaw sweety, I'll be back soon. At 2:45 I'm going to pick you up. Watch, school will be fun!" My mother jumped up and down, drawing more attention to us. I smiled faintly at the passing humans, then turned my gaze back towards my mother. "Remember, handle everything here gently. Don't want to break a tale or anything."

"Goodbye, mother. I will miss you," I whispered. I felt my eyes get wet. We hugged, and then my mother started to walk back to her car.

"good luck!" my mother shouted over her shoulder. I gave her a smile, then followed the line of humans into the building. _Something's different about mother today. I can't figure it out, though, _I thought as I walked.

I kept my head down as I listened to their whispers that the humans thought I couldn't hear.

" _She is_ pale_! But she's beautiful though…"_

"_Isn't she from France? Does she know any english?"_

"_Finally, a pretty girl around here. Maybe I have a shot."_

"_Woa! Jessica, look at her skin. She looks like a piece of paper!"_

I tried to ignore the bickering humans as I made my way to the front of the room to an aged male human.

"Hello. My name is Bella swan. I am the new student here," I told the balding human as he looked up at me. I wasn't sure if that was exactly what I was supposed to say, so I waited for his reaction. I saw his eyes widen a little, then looked down at the piece of paper I held in front of him. he took it and stuffed it in his shirt pocket. My head started to spin, and I realized that I hadn't had any saltwater.

"Uh, hi. You can sit back there, in that desk." He gestured to a table at the back of the room. I started to walk to my small table-er- desk, taking in the room. it had a lot of desks set up in the middle, taking up most of the room. the chairs behind the individual desks were blue, and suddenly everything started to look fragile. I blinked a couple of times, and tried to make this feeling go away. Everything in my eyesight looked the same, but it looked as if it was as breakable as a piece of kelp. I took in the rest of my classroom. On three of the walls was a pair of large windows, letting in a lot of light from the outside. At the very back of the room were coats that seemed to be hanging up by themselves on the dirty white walls. I decided to follow the other humans' examples, and took my coat off. I then

"_Go say something to her,"_ I heard a female whisper. I felt the heartbeat and pulse of someone getting stronger and louder, and the air around me shifting. I knew someone was approaching.

"Hi, um you're the new girl, right?" I heard a female say. I turned a round and looked down to see a short human with impossible large curl hair.

"Hello. Yes I am," I answered smiling to seem friendlier. I felt her heartbeat accelerate as she opened her mouth to speak again.

"Well, I'm Jessica!" she outstretched her hand to me, as if she wanted me to do something to it. I just stared at it, confused. She slowly withdrew it, her eyebrow scrunching up in what I guess was confusion. "You're Chief swan's daughter, right? And you're from France, too?" she said as we walked over the desks.

"Yes and yes," I nodded my head, trying to concentrate. _I need water,_ I thought as I reached inside my backpack for my bottle.

"How do you like Forks so far?" she asked. It's a little more simple and plain than Paris, right?"

"Yes I guess it is. I like forks very much," I responded truthfully.

"Your name is Isabella, right?" _How in the name os starfish did she know my name?_

"Yes. I prefer Bella, though." I found my bottle and opened it frantically. I felt the sweet taste of salt on my tongue, and I smiled internally at the flavor. I felt the bottle get a little slimmer, and I looked at the pink bottle to see what happened. _umm…. what just happened?_ I asked myself as I stared at the imprint of my hand in the bottle. Suddenly a loud bell rang and the vibrations sent a painful shock down my spine.

"Are you ok, Bella?" Jessica asked me anxiously.

"yes. The bell just shocked me, that's all."

"Oh, okay." We both sat down, and she didn't say anything further. Jessica turned to a taller brunette girl in front of her, and they started whispering to each other. I was too absorbed in my thoughts to listen to them. _That was so cool, but freaky. That's probably what mom meant by stronger. Huh. What else can I do?_ I pinched a piece of the desk with my point finger and thumb. I added more pressure, and the small piece of wood crumbled in-between my fingers. _Woa. _

"Ms. Swan. Here is the reading list and curriculum for the remainder of the year," the teacher said. He stood in front of me, and held a paper in my face.

"thank you, Mr. uh," I hadn't learned his name.

"Mason. Mr. mason," he said flatly. I nodded in appreciation, then looked back down at my hand. I listened to the teacher as he spoke about humans and stories I had never heard about. The class seemed to end as soon as it started. When the bell rang again, it sent another painful shock up my spine. As a result I stood up too fast, making the desk fall. I grabbed the chair so it wouldn't fall either, but I gripped it too tight. _Dang,_ I thought as a male came my way. I heard a couple of the humans snicker at my clumsiness, and I blushed.

"Do you need help?" he asked, his eyes wandering over the mess that I had made.

"No, thank you. I am fine." I responded as I tried to hide the broken chair. I turned my back on him to pick up my stuff from the floor.

"I'm Eric! You're Isabella, right?" he asked. I turned back to him, zipping my backpack up before responding.

"Yes I am. I prefer Bella, though. It is nice to meet you, Eric." I studied his appearance a little closer now that we were face to face. He had what I had recently learned was acne on his face, and his black hair was brushed back. He was light-skinned for a human, but compared to me he looked pretty dark.

"You're from France, right?" Eric asked as I picked up the desk, keeping my grip as light as possible.

"Yes I am."

"I know a couple of French words. Bonjour, mademoiselle."

"You have a good French accent," I said not knowing what I was talking about.

"Can you say something in French for me?" Eric's eyes shined as he asked me.

"Um, sure. What do you want me to say for you?"

"Um, I don't know. Whatever you want to say."

_I'll say random things. He won't know what I'm saying anyway. _"pâture pêcher jeune fille garçon sirène lit oreiller arbre terre!" (a/n: it means: food fish girl boy mermaid bed pillow tree earth. I just chose random words since Bella doesn't really know French)

"What does that mean?" Eric asked, intrigued. We made our way to the coats and put our coats on. _Oh, there are hooks for the coats!_ I thought as Eric waited for an answer.

"It, er, means you are a very nice person and I would like to be your friend," I said before I could think about it. Eric's face lit up and his heartbeat accelerated. He started talking, but I blanked out. I felt a warm tingling in-between my legs. For some odd reason, I wanted to grab Eric and- well- do things I never wanted to do or ever thought of doing before. _O god what is wrong with me?_ I screamed at myself as Eric

and remembered what my mother said earlier.

_**Flashback:**_

"_You can't stop this feeling, and it's very hard to resist it. I wouldn't be mad at you if you slipped up and mated with a male, but try not to, please," she said, her yellow eyes burning into mine._

"_But how is that dangerous?" I asked, confused. _

"_You could kill them. We are way stronger than humans, if you hadn't noticed,"_

_**End of flashback**_

"Bella? Bella? what class do you have next?" Eric asked as he stared at my face.

"Um, uh, hold on." I had to get my crumpled up schedule and map out of my jeans pocket.

"Um, uh, I believe I have, uh Government next. The teacher is Mr. Jefferson." I tried to contain my sudden feelings. I felt the testosterone pumping through Eric's body, and the tingling in between my legs got stronger.

"it's over there. I'll walk you if you want me to," He offered.

"Sure. Thank you." We walked through the small identical buildings, and I listened to Eric talk about what he knows about France and how he would rather live there than in Forks.

"Well, we're here. I'll see you at lunch, right?" Eric had a desperate look in his eyes as he spoke.

"Yes. I believe so," I answered, and his face lit up. I smiled at him, and then walked into the building full of humans. The room inside this building looked exactly like the previous building, only the students and teacher was different. First I took off my coat, then

I walked up the male blonde teacher, and gave him my slip. He signed it and gave it back to me

"My name is Bella Swan. I am the new student," I said.

"Hi Bella. my name is Mr. Jefferson. You can sit in that seat in the second row." He pointed to a empty desk, and I made my way to it. _Ouch!_ I thought as I stepped on my own toe and tripped. A couple of the humans giggled at my clumsiness, and I blushed. When I got to my seat, I gently took out my deformed bottle and drank from it until it was empty. _I need to get some salt soon, _I thought as I took out a notebook like the other students.

This class flew by just as fast as the other class, if not, faster. It was really confusing, and I tired to keep up with what the teacher was talking about, but I couldn't. The testosterone in the room didn't help my concentration either. When the deafening bell rang, I stumbled to the door for some fresh air. Next class I had trigonometry, which I couldn't even pronounce. I found the building my next class was, and I basically did the same thing I did last class.

I felt my stomach growl when the bell rang. I sprang up, my mouth watering for fish. When I walked out, I smelled the wonderful smell of water. _Oh no, _I thought as realization hit me. It was raining. I tried to think of ways to get from one building to the other. If it wasn't for thee humans surrounding me, I would have just sit in the rain and change back, but I couldn't do that. _What the starfish. I'll just run, even though I'll get even wetter that way tripping and all. Oh well. _I started to walk, then picked up my pace, not really knowing what to do. I had never ran before, considering the fact that I had only spent a _week_ on land. I gripped my bag slightly to my chest as I followed the other humans running to a building. I wanted so bad so just soak myself in the warm, glorious water, but I pushed myself forward until I got to the opening of the building. This building was larger than the other buildings, and older. The smell of human food hit me like a wave and I almost threw up. I compelled myself to walk into the source of the smell, and walked down the hallway. When I entered what I guessed was the Cafeteria, I saw Jessica sitting at one table with a group of females waving me over. I made my to them when I saw Eric on line waiting for his food.

"Bella!" Eric called out. I waved and shifted my direction towards him.

"Are you still gonna sit with me?" He asked, as if he were desperate.

"Actually, is it ok if we sit with that girl over there?" I asked, pointing to Jessica and the other girls.

"That's who I'm sitting with. You can skip me if you want." I stared at him blankly, not knowing what he was talking about. He Gestured in front of him, and I was still clueless. "In the line? You can get in front of me so that you don't have to go to the back of the line."

"Oh, ok! Thanks!" I said, memorizing that word in my internal English word key.

"I guess they don't say that in France, do they?" He asked.

"No they do not," I guessed. We got our food, and sat down. I tried to keep my touch as light as possible so that I wouldn't squish anything. As I picked at my odd chicken and cheese sandwich thing, Jessica introduced me to the other people sitting at the table. I greeted them, and then concentrated on forcing the disgusting food down my throat. What caught my attention was an odd, much sweet smelling smell. It was the same smell as earlier, when I was with my mother. My head shot up, and my eyes and nose searched for the source of the smell. I felt my jaw open and my eyes pop open. Five impossibly beautiful humans were walking to the lunch line. There were three males and two females. One female was tall, and had wavy hair that went down to her mid-back. When she turned around, I saw her face. She was the most beautiful human that I had ever seen in my life. Her skin was about two shades darker than mine, but she had deep bags under her eyes, like all of the others. The blonde had her arms linked with an unnaturally large male. He had dark, curly but short hair that gave him a sort of childish look, but not really. The other female standing behind the blonde was extremely short. She looked like she was the size of a child, yet she had the body of a woman. She had short black hair that was spiked. she was clinging onto a taller male, who was also blonde like the other female. He wasn't as large as the other male, but he was still muscular. He was gorgeous just like the other male. Standing next to him was another male. I wouldn't have seen him if he hadn't walked a little in front of he blonde male. I dropped my sandwich, which fell on a plastic fork and causing it to launch towards my forehead. _Oh. My. Starfish. It's the human from my dream. I am going to die,_ I thought flatly in my head. The male was the exact boy in my dream, only he was better because he was _real_. I almost fainted at the sight of him and my heart accelerated.

"Are you Okay Bella?" Eric asked frantically, as if this was supposed to hurt me.

"Yes I am fine. Thank you for asking." His copper hair. His skin color. His face. _Something's different. His eyes are different._ I thought as I tried to tear my eyes away from him. His eyes, like the rest of them, were literally black. I had never seen anything like it before, but I let it go. He also had dark purple bags under his eyes like the rest of his group. _He's still handsome,_ I thought to myself. I decided.

"Excuse me, Jessica. Who are those people?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

She turned to see who I was talking about. "Them?" As she said this, the dream boy turned his gaze in her direction. His eyes quickly focused on my face, and my heart literally stopped. I looked away, quicker than any human could move their head.

Jessica continued. "That's Edward Cullen, Emmet Cullen, and Alice Cullen. The blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They are all adopted by Dr. Cullen and Mrs. Cullen," she giggled, leaning in more towards me. I gasped at her proximity. I had never been that close to a human before. "It's too bad, though. They're all _together_ though. Alice is with Jasper, and Emmet is with Rosalie."

"Oh," I said, leaning away from her.

"The weird part is, they all _live _together!"

"Is that a bad thing?" I inquired, confused.

Jessica looked taken aback by my question for a moment. "Well, no. it's just weird for people who live together to be _dating_. Do you do that in France?" Her voice had an odd tone to it, but I let it go.

"No." I stole another glance at the bream boy. "Who is the male- er- boy with brown hair? I mean, what is his name? " I asked casually. He kept on glancing at me with a confused look on his face.

"That's Edward Cullen. He's sexy, isn't he?"

"Yes he is _sexy_," I responded, using the word that she had just said. Jessica giggled at my response, or the way I said it. I looked back at him, and saw him grinning slightly. I sighed at the thought of his name. _Edward. Humans have awkward names, but his name fits him, for some reason_. The tingling I had in my stomach made me forget about the tingling between my legs completely. I looked back at him, and now saw the whole table stealing glances at me. I looked down, and sighed, feeling tired.

"He's not available, if that's what you're sighing about," Jessica said, grinning at my expression. "He doesn't have a girlfriend. But he doesn't date either. No one here is -sigh- good enough for him. Even _I _tried. _Sigh_." I bit back a laugh from her last comment. She seemed so offended and hurt when she had said this. _Humans throw around love like it's nothing. It's so sad, _I thought critically. Suddenly the bell rang and it sent the most painful shock through my spine. I clutched my dimmed crystal, surprised at the sudden shock.

"Are you okay?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. The bell always scared me, that is all."

"Oh, uh, ok. I like your shirt, by the way," she said as she walked towards the trash. It smelled even worse than the food.

"Thank you."

"You hardly touched your food. Are you going to be ok for the rest of the day?" I heard Eric ask, and I turned to him.

"Yes I will. Thank you for asking," I replied as I put my coat on. I looked back once more at the Cullens' table. They were walking towards the back door near their table. I couldn't help but be jealous of how gracefully they moved. It was more graceful than I could ever walk, and certainly more graceful than any other human I had seen. _Maybe they're not human, _I joked to myself. I stumbled to the door, after Eric, Jessica and the rest of the humans I sat with. _I have Biology 2 next, _I thought asI said goodbye to the humans and parted from the group. I started for the direction of the building that my next class was in. The feeling I my private part came back as I inhaled the testosterone of passing males in the air.

_I'm never going to get rid of that feeling, am I? _I thought as I spotted a girl who sat at my table.

"Hello. You are Angela, correct?" I asked. She nodded her head. She seemed to be a shy human.

"What class do you have next, Bella?" she asked.

"Biology 2. What about you?"

"I have the same class as you." She gave me a small but genuine smile. I could tell because of the way her muscles in her face moved.

"So, how do you like Forks?" Angela asked.

"It is a good town. I like it." I said as we entered the building. A familiar smell filled my nose, and I froze in my place. Dream boy- er- Edward was in this class. The tingling came back in my stomach.

"Bella? Are you alright?" Angela asked anxiously, worry in her voice.

"Yes I am fine, thank you for asking," I walked to the coat rack and hung up my coat. I felt a strong radio waves coming from my backpack, then it vibrated. I dropped it, surprised at the strong and annoying vibrations.

"Your phone's ringing," said Angela. I zipped my bag carefully, and grabbed the quivering piece of metal. I flipped it open, and stared at it. "Aren't you going to answer it?" she inquired curiously.

"What is it supposed to do?" I asked.

She took it from my hand, and pressed a button. Then I felt sound waves coming from it.

"_Bella? Bella? are you there?_" I heard a familiar voice scream from the phone.

"Amazing. Humans are really smart," I whispered too low for Angela to hear. I stared at the phone dumbfounded.

"You have to put it to your ear," Angela said, holding the phone out to me.

"Oh, ok. Thanks." I took the phone from her hand gently and put it near my ear, as uncomfortable as it was.

"The other way,"

"Like this?" I asked, turning it so it was in the middle of my face.

"Like you had is before, just flip it around,"

"This way?" I turned it so that the keyboard covered my ear.

"No, this way. There you go." She corrected me.

"Um, excuse me. No phones during school hours. I will have to confiscate it if this happens again," I heard a male voice say from the front room. I shut the phone and blushed, realizing the eyes that were staring at Angela and me. Angela's heartbeat accelerated, and she grabbed her bag and headed towards a table.

I started to follow her, but remembered that I had to give the teacher a slip. I gave it to him, introduced myself and apologized for the phone incident. He explained the rules of his classroom, and gave me a pile of think books. He directed me to a seat; the seat next to _him_. My heartbeat sped up as I got closer to him. _Oops_, I thought as I tripped over my feet. I grabbed the metal top of the table, only to dent it with my hand. _Oh no! oh no! Humans can't do that to tables! The whole class is watching me! I hope the humans didn't see that!_ I heard Edward gasp sharply, and I knew that he had seen what I did to the table. I scrambled up to my feet, and put my books and backpack on top of the dent I had made. I smiled at no one, embarrassed at the scene I had just made. I heard giggles and chuckles behind me as I sat down, and for the first time in school I fully blushed. I'm sure my face turned a dark crimson. The teacher then started class. I inhaled, letting Edward's sweet smell linger inside my lungs. _Um, there is something wrong with this picture. Where is his heartbeat? His pulse? His testosterone? What in the name of starfish?_ I thought as I concentrated on feeling something from him. Nothing. _He should be the strongest heartbeat in here. He's the closest human to me in here. I need saltwater. That's what I need. The deprivation is starving my senses, _I reassured myself as I stole a glance at him. His eyebrows were scrunched together, as if he were trying to figure something out. I sunk down lower in my chair, wanting water. I stared at the human, trying to sense something from him. I didn't feel a wave of heat from him. _I didn't know I would become like numb without water,_ I thought. _Wait a minute, I could feel every other human in here. What is going on here?_ He looked at me with his black eyes. I looked into his eyes, and could not see his pupils. I awkwardly turned my head, careful not to turn it too fast. His eyes held a little bit of fear in them, for some reason. _Oh starfish. He knows what I am. He sees right through my act. I have to tell mommy. _I sunk down in my chair even lower, using my hair to cover my worried expression. I grasped my crystal, not knowing what to do with this situation. _How much trouble would we be in if humans found out what my mother and I was? It can't be that bad, I guess. _I tried to comfort myself. I peeked at Edward through my dark hair. He was watching me at the corner of his eye, fear painted all over his face. I looked forward, my breathing accelerating. _So he knows,_ I thought shakily. My eyes widened at this realization. Then I heard him speak.

"Hello, Bella." When he spoke, I almost fainted. His voice was so beautiful.

I forgot how to speak. When I remembered how to speak, I spoke the wrong language. "Hi." I mentally kicked myself in the head. The teacher stopped talked, and all of the humans turned to me.

"Bella? Are you ok?" the teacher asked, coming over to my table.

Edward's gaze was still on me, confusion now on his face. As long as his eyes were on me, I forgot all of my English, so I just nodded and sat up straighter.

"Ok. If you don't feel good, just go to the nurse." The teacher then walked back to the front of the class, and continued his lesson. Edward didn't say anything else for the remainder of the class. This was the longest class I had all day. I was becoming really thirsty, I had a strong tingling in my stomach, and I had to figure out what to do if Edward found out that I was a mermaid. _The image on my shirt isn't helping either_, I thought as I looked down at the redheaded mermaid on my shirt. I looked back at Edward, and he was still watching my every move. When the irritating bell finally rang, I quickly grabbed my things and my coat, and walked out of the classroom almost too fast. I knew I shouldn't have done this, because I had a feeling I was going to fall. This is what happened. My knees buckled, and I tripped over my right foot. What I didn't expect was falling onto Edward. He was a great deal taller than I had expected him to be. He was walking swiftly in front of me, and in my desperation I reached out to him for support. _No Bella! Stupid! You'll hurt him! _By the time I mentally yelled at myself, it was too late. I grabbed his arms, but it didn't help, I just dragged him down with me. I fell into his back, causing him to fall down. I saw him turn his head slightly before I closed my eyes, praying that I didn't hurt him. I kept on waiting to hear and feel something break, but I never did. His skin was cold, like a rock. I had never grabbed a human with a strong grip before; much I was certain that humans were supposed to be softer. I was still holding onto his arm when I opened my eyes.

"Oh my god! Are you two okay?"

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

I got off of Edward, even though I didn't really want to, and tried to say that I was sorry. When he got up, he just walked out of the room. I blushed, and nearly ran out of the building, dropping all my stuff in the process. I stopped, and bent down to pick my books up from the wet floor, trying not to get my fingers wet. I kept on playing the scene with Edward in my head. It didn't make sense to me._ Humans are supposed to be breakable, but he didn't even get a scratch. Maybe mother just exaggerated when she said they were very breakable. _

"Do you need any help?" I heard a male ask. I looked up to see a blonde male looking down at me.

"No, thank you," I replied quietly.

"Are you Isabella Swan?" he continued.

"Yes." I finished picking everything up, and stood up. I felt the male's heartbeat get faster.

"Yes. I prefer Bella, though," I said, smiling at him.

"Oh ok Bella then. Well, I'm Mike!" I smiled at him, and his heartbeat accelerated even more. "Do you need help getting to your next class?" he asked as I looked at my schedule and map.

"Yes please. I have gym." I said, trying to find the building on the map.

"Me too!" he said and we started. He was talking the whole time to gym class, and I pretended to listen, nodding whenever he asked me asked me a question. I kept on thinking about whether Edward knew what I was or not. It didn't really make sense, because I never did anything in front of him to make him come to that conclusion. But he looked at me like was afraid of me. Why? Did I not look enough like a human?

"Well, we're here," I heard Mike say. He instructed me where to go, and then went into a room where the rest of the males were going. I did as he said, and went to the teacher. Si gave him my slip, and he gave me a uniform that I would wear for gym, but not today. The teacher told me to watch class today, and get the feel of what they were doing in P.E. I watched the humans play a game called _Volleyball_, and I wondered how I was going to hit the ball without deflating it. When class was over, I remembered I had to go back to the office that I had went to in the morning to return my slips that the teachers had signed. I put my coat on, and walked towards the office. As I walked into the building, I smelled a familiar, cool scent. I looked up, and recognized the head of hair that stood across the room. The male from my Biology class, Edward was arguing with the female behind the desk about changing classes. It took all of my will power not to walk right out of that building. _Look at yourself, Bella. You are stronger than him. He's just a _human_ for crying out loud. He can't do anything to you,_ I told myself as I walked towards the lady behind the desk. Suddenly Edward turned around, and looked at me. I couldn't read his blank expression.

He turned back, and said something to the female. "Ok, it's not that serious. Thank you for trying anyway." I walked to the desk, and he rushed out the door. I felt the heartbeat of the female slow down as he walked- or ran out the door. I shook my head, and gave the slips to the woman.

She smiled up at me. "Thank you. How was your first day?"

"It was interesting," I smiled back at her, replaying my day in my head. She smiled, and thanked me again. I said goodbye, and walked out of the building. I stood outside of office building and waited for my mother to arrive. I watched the humans as they poured out of the buildings, and made their way to the parking lot where their cars were. Finally, I saw a yellow car come into view. It stopped, and my mother hopped out of the quiet car. I smiled at her presence, feeling relieved that I finally got to see her.

"Bella! My baby, I missed you! How was your first day of school?" my mother ran towards me and we embraced in a hug. I inhaled the fresh, salty scent that I was used to.

"It was interesting," I said, repeating my words from a couple of minutes ago.

"Well, come! Tell me about everything!" e walked to the car, and I felt the heat rolling off of it. I looked over the car, only to see want I didn't really want to see. I stopped in my tracks to see five pairs of black eyes staring at my mother and me.

"Bella? Sweetie what's wrong?" my mother came to my side. She looked in the direction that I was looking in, and then looked back at me as the wind blew my hair in my face.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at those humans like that? You look scared to death. Baby, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing's wrong mom. I'll tell you later." I watched the humans carefully as they piled into their silver car.

"Ok! I went hunting today. I got your favorite! Tiger Shark! I had to go pretty far, but it was worth it," my mother babbled. I kept my eyes glued on the odd humans. The last two who hadn't gotten into the car was the short one, and _Edward_. Terror painted their faces as they stared at my mother. I broke my gaze and got into our on car. My mother, oblivious to this whole scene happily drove off.

"So are you going to tell me why you were staring at those humans like that?" Mother said, her voice now serious. "did something happen? Did one of them get hurt or something?" she asked frantically.

I shook my head blankly, scared of what I might have done. "I think they know what we are."

"What do you mean?" My mother asked, as if she forgot we were mermaids.

"I think they know we're not human."

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don't forget to review!! i'm not posting the next chapter unless i get at least 20 reviews. it sounds kinda harsh, but i hav a bet with some1 so yea. 2O REVIEWS, remember that


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